Greek Alphabet and Symbols in Chemistry

Greek Alphabet and Symbols in Chemistry Scholars used to be conversant with Greek and Latin as part of their education. They even used these languages to publish their ideas or work. Correspondence with other scholars was possible even if their native languages werent the same. Variables in science and mathematics need a symbol to represent them when they are written. A scholar would need a new symbol to represent their new idea and Greek was one of the tools at hand. Applying a Greek letter to a symbol became second nature. Today, while Greek and Latin arent on every students curriculum, the Greek alphabet is learned as needed. The table below lists all twenty-four letters in both upper and lowercase of the Greek alphabet used in science and mathematics. Name Upper Case Lower Case Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Eta Theta Iota Kappa Lambda Mu Nu Xi Omicron Pi Rho Sigma Tau Upsilon Phi Chi Psi Omega