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The Greek Alphabet

Using letters of the alphabet to stand in place of values in equations does pose one small problem - there are only 26 letters in the Latin alphabet (which the English language uses, and this website is written in), and at times, re-using the same letter to stand for different things in different equations can get confusing.

As a consequence, mathematicians often mix Greek letters into equations as well.

Here are the upper and lowercase letters of the Greek alphabet, together with their names:

Α α alpha

Β β beta

Γ γ gamma

Δ δ delta

Ε ε epsilon

Ζ ζ zeta

Η η eta

Θ θ theta

Ι ι iota

Κ κ kappa

Λ λ lambda

Μ μ mu

Ν ν nu

Ξ ξ xi

Ο ο omicron

Π π pi Uppercase Π usually represents a product series, while lowercase π represents the ratio 'pi'

Ρ ρ rho

Σ σ sigma Uppercase usually represents a sum series.

Τ τ tau

Υ υ upsilon

Φ φ phi

Χ χ chi Pronounced: "kye"

Ψ ψ psi

Ω ω omega

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