Beta

Template:Short description Template:Hatnote group Template:More citations needed Template:Greek Alphabet Beta (Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en; uppercase Template:Script, lowercase Template:Not a typo, or cursive Template:Script; Template:Langx or Template:Langx) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive Template:IPA. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced bilabial fricative Template:IPA while Template:IPA in borrowed words is instead commonly transcribed as μπ.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Letters that arose from beta include the Roman letter Template:Angle bracket and the Cyrillic letters Template:Angle bracket and Template:Angle bracket.

Name

Like the names of most other Greek letters, the name of beta was adopted from the acrophonic name of the corresponding letter in Phoenician, which was the common Semitic word Template:Lang ('house', compare Template:Langx Template:Lang and Template:Langx Template:Lang). In Greek, the name was Template:Lang Template:Lang, pronounced Template:IPA in Ancient Greek. It is spelled Template:Lang in modern monotonic orthography and pronounced Template:IPA.

History

Template:See also The letter beta was derived from the Phoenician letter beth Beth.

The letter Β had the largest number of highly divergent local forms. Besides the standard form (either rounded or pointed, Template:GrGl), there were forms as varied as Template:GrGl (Gortyn), Template:GrGl and Template:GrGl (Thera), Template:GrGl (Argos), Template:GrGl (Melos), Template:GrGl (Corinth), Template:GrGl (Megara, Byzantium), and Template:GrGl (Cyclades).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Uses

File:NAMA Alphabet grec.jpg

The Greek alphabet on an ancient black figure vessel, with the characteristically angular beta of the time

Algebraic numerals

In the system of Greek numerals, beta has a value of 2. Such use is denoted by a number mark: Β′.

Finance

Beta is used in finance as a measure of investment portfolio risk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

International Phonetic Alphabet

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Greek minuscule beta denotes a voiced bilabial fricative Template:Ipa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A superscript version may also indicate a compressed vowel, like Template:IPA.

Meteorology

Beta has twice been used to name an Atlantic Basin tropical cyclone:

• Hurricane Beta, in 2005
• Tropical Storm Beta, in 2020

Mathematics and science

• Beta is often used to denote a variable in mathematics and physics, where it often has specific meanings for certain applications.
• β is sometimes used as a placeholder for an ordinal number if α is already used. For example, the two roots of a quadratic equation are typically labelled Template:Math and Template:Math.
• In regression analysis, Template:Angle bracket symbolizes nonstandardized partial slope coefficients, whereas Template:Angle bracket represents standardized (standard deviation-score form) coefficients; in both cases, the coefficients reflect the change in the criterion Y per one-unit change in the value of the associated predictor X.
• In spaceflight, beta angle describes the angle between the orbit plane of a spacecraft or other body and the vector from the sun.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In physics β is used for a beta particle (an unbound energetic electron or positron).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• β is also used in biology, for instance in β-Carotene, a primary source of provitamin A, or the β cells in pancreatic islets, which produce insulin.
• The uppercase letter beta is not generally used as a symbol because it tends to be rendered identically to the uppercase Latin B.
• Dirichlet beta function<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Rock climbing terminology

The term "beta" refers to advice on how to successfully complete a particular climbing route, boulder problem, or crux sequence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Slang

Beta male, or simply beta, is a slang term for men derived from the designation for beta animals in ethology, along with its counterpart, alpha male.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The term has been used as a pejorative self-identifier among members of manosphere communities, particularly incels, who do not believe they are assertive or traditionally masculine, and feel overlooked by women.<ref name="Jones 2020">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Nicholas 2018">Template:Cite book</ref> It is also used to negatively describe other men who are not assertive, particularly in heterosexual relationships.

Statistics

In statistics, beta may represent type II error,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> or regression slope.

Typography

In some high-quality typesetting, especially in the French tradition, a typographic variant of the lowercase letter without a descender is used within a word for ancient Greek: Template:Script/Greek is printed Template:Script/Greek.<ref name="haralambous">Template:Cite web</ref>

In typesetting technical literature, it is a commonly made mistake to use the German letter ß (a s–z or s–s ligature) as a replacement for β. The two letters resemble each other in some fonts, but they are unrelated.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Videotape formats

"Beta" can be used to refer to several consumer and professional videotape formats developed by Japan's Sony Corporation. Although similarly named, they are very different in function and obsolescence.

• Betamax was the name of a domestic videotape format developed in the 1970s and 1980s. It competed with the Video Home System (VHS) format developed by the Japanese Victor Company, to which it eventually succumbed. The Betamax format was also marketed Betacord by (Sanyo); some cassettes were simply labeled "Beta", and the logo was a lower-case beta. Betamax lost in the market and is an oft-used example of a technically superior solution that failed due to market forces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Betacam, including Beta SP and DigiBeta, is a family of professional videotape formats launched in 1982 that was the de facto standard for professional video, advertising, and television production through the 2000s. The formats outlasted analog NTSC television, and their scarcity today is because the industry has moved to HD formats.

Unicode

• Template:Unichar
• Template:Unichar (Template:Tt in TeX)
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• Template:Unichar (Japanese square katakana of Template:Lang Template:Transliteration)
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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:

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