Nu (letter)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greek alphabet
Αα Alpha	Νν Nu
Ββ Beta	Ξξ Xi
Γγ Gamma	Οο Omicron
Δδ Delta	Ππ Pi
Εε Epsilon	Ρρ Rho
Ζζ Zeta	Σσς Sigma
Ηη Eta	Ττ Tau
Θθ Theta	Υυ Upsilon
Ιι Iota	Φφ Phi
Κκ Kappa	Χχ Chi
Λλ Lambda	Ψψ Psi
Μμ Mu	Ωω Omega
Obsolete letters
Digamma	Qoppa
San	Sampi
Greek diacritics

Nu (uppercase Ν, lowercase ν; Greek: Νι [ni:] Ni), is the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50. Its Latin Alphabet equivalent is N.

The letter, known as νῦ in Ancient Greek is written νῦ in traditional Modern Greek polytonic orthography while the letter in Modern Greek is sometimes written νι [ni:]. In English, the name of the letter is pronounced /ˈnuː/ or /ˈnjuː/.

The lower-case letter ν is used as a symbol for:

• The frequency of a wave in physics and other fields.
• Kinematic viscosity in fluid mechanics
• Poisson's ratio, the ratio of strains perpendicular with and parallel with an applied force.
• Specific volume, the volume occupied by a unit of mass of a material.
• Any of three kinds of neutrino in particle physics.
• One of the Greeks in mathematical finance, known as "vega".
• The number of neutrons released per fission of an atom in nuclear physics.
• A DNA polymerase found in higher eukaryotes and implicated in Translesion Synthesis.
• Molecular vibrational mode, ν_x where x is the number of the vibration (a label)
• The Greatest fixed point of a function, as commonly used in the μ-calculus