Beta

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
Other characters
	Digamma		Stigma
	Heta		San
	Qoppa		Sampi
Greek diacritics

Beta (uppercase Β, lowercase β, internal ϐ; Greek: Βήτα [ˈvita]; English pronunciation: /ˈbeɪtə/ (US) or /ˈbiːtə/ (UK)) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 2. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Beth . Letters that arose from Beta include the Roman B and the Cyrillic letters Б and В.

In high-quality print, a variant of the letter is sometimes used that does not have a descender except at the beginning of a word: βίβλος is written βίϐλος. Lower case ϐ is very common in handwriting.

Uses

Ancient Greek

In Ancient Greek, Beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. The name of the letter, βῆτα bêta, was pronounced .

Modern Greek

In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/. The name of the letter is spelled βήτα in the modern monotonic orthography, and pronounced [ˈvita].

Math and science

Beta is often used to denote a variable in mathematics and physics, where it often has specific meanings for certain applications, such as representing beta particles, and beta radiation. In regression analysis, "B" symbolizes non-standardized partial slope coefficients, whereas "β" represents standardized (standard deviation-score form) coefficients; in both cases, the coefficients reflect the change in the criterion Y per one-unit change in the value of the associated predictor X.

International Phonetic Alphabet

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Greek minuscule beta denotes a voiced bilabial fricative.

Technical notes

In typesetting technical literature, it is a commonly made mistake to use the German letter ß as a replacement for β. The two letters resemble each other superficially, but they are unrelated.

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