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Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes the standard derivative of the function as defined in calculus .
The differential operator del, also called nabla, is an important vector differential operator. It appears frequently in physics in places like the differential form of Maxwell's equations. In three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates, del is defined as
Delta (/ ˈ d ɛ l t ə /; [1] uppercase Δ, lowercase δ; Greek: δέλτα, délta, ) [2] 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 𐤃. [ 3 ]
The nabla is a triangular symbol resembling an inverted Greek delta: [1] or ∇. The name comes, by reason of the symbol's shape, from the Hellenistic Greek word νάβλα for a Phoenician harp, [2] [3] and was suggested by the encyclopedist William Robertson Smith in an 1870 letter to Peter Guthrie Tait.
The character ∂ (Unicode: U+2202) is a stylized cursive d mainly used as a mathematical symbol, usually to denote a partial derivative such as / (read as "the partial derivative of z with respect to x").
Delta commonly refers to: Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
This article uses the standard notation ISO 80000-2, which supersedes ISO 31-11, for spherical coordinates (other sources may reverse the definitions of θ and φ): . The polar angle is denoted by [,]: it is the angle between the z-axis and the radial vector connecting the origin to the point in question.
For example, if x is a variable, then a change in the value of x is often denoted Δx (pronounced delta x). The differential dx represents an infinitely small change in the variable x. The idea of an infinitely small or infinitely slow change is, intuitively, extremely useful, and there are a number of ways to make the notion mathematically ...