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Half-line (geometry) or ray, half of a line split at an initial point Directed half-line or ray, half of a directed or oriented line split at an initial point; Ray (graph theory), an infinite sequence of vertices such that each vertex appears at most once in the sequence and each two consecutive vertices in the sequence are the two endpoints of an edge in the graph
A mathematical symbol is a figure or a combination of figures that is used to represent a mathematical object, an action on mathematical objects, a relation between mathematical objects, or for structuring the other symbols that occur in a formula. As formulas are entirely constituted with symbols of various types, many symbols are needed for ...
The second is a link to the article that details that symbol, using its Unicode standard name or common alias. (Holding the mouse pointer on the hyperlink will pop up a summary of the symbol's function.); The third gives symbols listed elsewhere in the table that are similar to it in meaning or appearance, or that may be confused with it;
In Euclidean geometry two rays with a common endpoint form an angle. [14] The definition of a ray depends upon the notion of betweenness for points on a line. It follows that rays exist only for geometries for which this notion exists, typically Euclidean geometry or affine geometry over an ordered field.
Latin and Greek letters are used in mathematics, science, engineering, and other areas where mathematical notation is used as symbols for constants, special functions, and also conventionally for variables representing certain quantities.
The following table lists many specialized symbols commonly used in modern mathematics, ordered by their introduction date. The table can also be ordered alphabetically by clicking on the relevant header title.
Symbol Name Meaning SI unit of measure alpha: alpha particle: angular acceleration: radian per second squared (rad/s 2) fine-structure constant: unitless beta: velocity in terms of the speed of light c: unitless beta particle: gamma: Lorentz factor: unitless photon: gamma ray: shear strain: radian
In mathematical expressions, it is common to use Greek letters (α, β, γ, θ, φ, . . . ) as variables denoting the size of some angle [9] (the symbol π is typically not used for this purpose to avoid confusion with the constant denoted by that symbol). Lower case Roman letters (a, b, c, . . . ) are also used.