Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Delta (letter)
Delta (upper case Δ, lower case δ) is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4.
A river delta is named after the letter delta because it has roughly the triangular shape of the upper-case delta.
The upper-case letter Δ is used as the symbol for:
- A macroscopic change in the value of a variable in mathematics or science.
- Any of the delta particles in particle physics.
Deltas are the second lowest caste in Aldous Huxley's dystopic satire Brave New World.
The lower-case letter δ is used as the symbol for:
- A microscopic change in the value of a variable in mathematics or science.
- The Kronecker delta in mathematics.
- The Dirac delta function in mathematics.
- A mark for deletion in proofreading. The usage is said to date back to classical times.
Letters that arose from Delta include the Roman D and the Cyrillic letter De.
Last updated: 06-01-2005 22:24:27
09-23-2007 01:00:40
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


