| 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 |
| History | |||
| Archaic local variants · · · · · |
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| Ligatures (ϛ, ȣ, ϗ) · Diacritics | |||
| Numerals: (6) · (90) · (900) | |||
| In other languages | |||
| Bactrian · Coptic · Albanian | |||
| Scientific symbols | |||
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Book · Category · Commons |
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Beta (uppercase Β, lowercase β) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/.
The letter Beta was derived from the Phoenician letter Beth . Letters that arose from Beta include the Roman letter ⟨B⟩ and the Cyrillic letters ⟨Б⟩ and ⟨В⟩.
In the system of Greek numerals Beta has a value of 2.
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Like the names of most other Greek letters, the name of beta was adopted from the acrophonic name of the corresponding letter in Phoenician, which was the common Semitic word *bayt ('house'). In Greek, the name was βῆτα bêta, pronounced [bɛ̂ːta] in Ancient Greek. It is spelled βήτα in the modern monotonic orthography, and pronounced [ˈvita]. In English, the name is pronounced either /ˈbeɪtə/ (US) or /ˈbiːtə/ (UK)).
In some high-quality typesetting, especially in the French tradition, a typographic variant of the lowercase letter without a descender is used within a word: βίβλος is printed βίϐλος.[1]
In typesetting technical literature, it is a commonly made mistake to use the German letter ß (a double-s ligature) as a replacement for β. The two letters resemble each other in some fonts, but they are unrelated.
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 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.
Beta is used in finance as a measure of investment portfolio risk.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Greek minuscule beta denotes a voiced bilabial fricative [β].
| description | character | Unicode | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|
| GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA | Β | U+0392 | Β Β |
| GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA | β | U+03B2 | β β |
| GREEK BETA SYMBOL | ϐ | U+03D0 | ϐ |
| MODIFIER LETTER SMALL BETA | ◌ᵝ | U+1D5D | ᵝ |
| GREEK SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER BETA | ◌ᵦ | U+1D66 | ᵦ |