Delta (letter)

"Δ" redirects here. For the British indie rock group, see Alt-J. For other uses, see Delta (disambiguation).
Look up Δ or δ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Delta (uppercase Δ, lowercase δ or 𝛿; Δέλτα Délta; Modern Greek [ˈðelta][1]) is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4. It was derived from the Phoenician letter dalet .[2] Letters that come from delta include Latin D and Cyrillic Д.

A river delta (originally, the Nile River delta) is so named because its shape approximates the upper-case letter delta (the shape is a triangle). Despite a popular legend, this use of the word delta was not coined by Herodotus.[3]

Pronunciation

In Ancient Greek, delta represented a voiced dental plosive /d/. In Modern Greek, it represents a voiced dental fricative /ð/, like the "th" in "that" or "this". It is romanized as d or dh.

Upper case

The upper-case letter Δ can be used to denote:

{y_2-y_1\over x_2-x_1} = {\Delta y \over \Delta x} ,
the average change of y per unit x (i.e. the change of y over the change of x). Delta is the initial letter of the Greek word διαφορά diaphorá, "difference". (The small Latin letter d is used in much the same way for the notation of derivatives and differentials, which also describe change.)
\Delta f = \sum_{i=1}^n {\frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x_i^2}}
\Delta = b^2 - 4ac\,\!
\Delta = \tfrac{1}{2} a b \sin{C}

Lower case

The alphabet on a black figure vessel, with a D-shaped delta.

The lower-case letter δ (or 𝛿) can be used to denote:

Keyboard Entry

On Microsoft Windows, a small delta can be generated by typing Alt+235. In certain programs (e.g. Microsoft Word), an uppercase delta can be typed using Alt+0916. However, in most other programs, Alt+0916 generates a closing quotation mark (”).

On OS X, option-j yields an upper-case delta (∆).

On Linux, Left Ctrl+Shift+u then 0394 yields an upper-case delta (Δ) and Left Ctrl+Shift+u then 03B4 yields a lower-case delta (δ).

Computer encodings

Character Δ δ
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA MODIFIER LETTER SMALL DELTA COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER DALDA COPTIC SMALL LETTER DALDA
Encodings decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex
Unicode 916 U+0394 948 U+03B4 8031 U+1F5F 11398 U+2C86 11399 U+2C87
UTF-8 206 148 CE 94 206 180 CE B4 225 189 159 E1 BD 9F 226 178 134 E2 B2 86 226 178 135 E2 B2 87
Numeric character reference Δ Δ δ δ Ὗ Ὗ Ⲇ Ⲇ ⲇ ⲇ
Named character reference Δ δ
DOS Greek 131 83 155 9B
DOS Greek-2 167 A7 221 DD
Windows 1253 196 C4 228 E4
TeX \Delta \delta
Character ƍ
Unicode name LATIN SMALL LETTER DELTA LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED DELTA
Encodings decimal hex decimal hex
Unicode 7839 U+1E9F 397 U+018D
UTF-8 225 186 159 E1 BA 9F 198 141 C6 8D
Numeric character reference ẟ ẟ ƍ ƍ
Character
Unicode name INCREMENT NABLA DELTA EQUAL TO APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL DELTA STILE APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL QUAD DELTA APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL DELTA UNDERBAR
Encodings decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex
Unicode 8710 U+2206 8711 U+2207 8796 U+225C 9035 U+234B 9037 U+234D 9049 U+2359
UTF-8 226 136 134 E2 88 86 226 136 135 E2 88 87 226 137 156 E2 89 9C 226 141 139 E2 8D 8B 226 141 141 E2 8D 8D 226 141 153 E2 8D 99
Numeric character reference ∆ ∆ ∇ ∇ ≜ ≜ ⍋ ⍋ ⍍ ⍍ ⍙ ⍙
Named character reference ∇
Character 𝚫 𝛅 𝛥 𝛿 𝜟 𝜹
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL BOLD
CAPITAL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD
SMALL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
CAPITAL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
SMALL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
CAPITAL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
SMALL DELTA
Encodings decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex
Unicode 120491 U+1D6AB 120517 U+1D6C5 120549 U+1D6E5 120575 U+1D6FF 120607 U+1D71F 120633 U+1D739
UTF-8 240 157 154 171 F0 9D 9A AB 240 157 155 133 F0 9D 9B 85 240 157 155 165 F0 9D 9B A5 240 157 155 191 F0 9D 9B BF 240 157 156 159 F0 9D 9C 9F 240 157 156 185 F0 9D 9C B9
UTF-16 55349 57003 D835 DEAB 55349 57029 D835 DEC5 55349 57061 D835 DEE5 55349 57087 D835 DEFF 55349 57119 D835 DF1F 55349 57145 D835 DF39
Numeric character reference 𝚫 𝚫 𝛅 𝛅 𝛥 𝛥 𝛿 𝛿 𝜟 𝜟 𝜹 𝜹
Character 𝝙 𝝳 𝞓 𝞭
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD CAPITAL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD SMALL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL DELTA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC SMALL DELTA
Encodings decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex decimal hex
Unicode 120665 U+1D759 120691 U+1D773 120723 U+1D793 120749 U+1D7AD
UTF-8 240 157 157 153 F0 9D 9D 99 240 157 157 179 F0 9D 9D B3 240 157 158 147 F0 9D 9E 93 240 157 158 173 F0 9D 9E AD
UTF-16 55349 57177 D835 DF59 55349 57203 D835 DF73 55349 57235 D835 DF93 55349 57261 D835 DFAD
Numeric character reference 𝝙 𝝙 𝝳 𝝳 𝞓 𝞓 𝞭 𝞭

These characters are used only as mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.

See also

References

  1. "Dictionary of Standard Modern greek". Centre for the Greek Language.
  2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delta
  3. Celoria, Francis (1966). "Delta as a geographical concept in Greek literature". Isis 57 (3): 385–388. doi:10.1086/350146.
  4. Caduceus, the emblem of dentistry - American Dental Association - ADA.org
  5. Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. XIX, p ii
  6. http://econ.duke.edu/people?subpage=unit&Gurl=%2Faas%2FEconomics&cname=Masters+Students
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