Gamma

Gamma

The Greek alphabet, with Gamma highlighted.

Gamma (uppercase _, lowercase _; Greek: _____) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician letter gimel, which means "camel".

History

The letter gamma was adopted into the Greek alphabet from the Phoenician letter gimel. The shape of the letter has evolved over time, but it has consistently represented the same sound, a voiced velar plosive /_/ in Ancient Greek.

Usage in Greek

In Modern Greek, gamma represents a voiced palatal fricative /_/ before front vowels (e.g., /e/ and /i/) and a voiced velar fricative /_/ elsewhere. It is also used in digraphs to represent other sounds, such as /_/ in the digraph __.

Usage in Science and Mathematics

Gamma is used in various scientific and mathematical contexts:

• In physics, gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a very short wavelength.
• In mathematics, the gamma function is an extension of the factorial function to complex numbers.
• In statistics, the gamma distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions.

Related Letters and Symbols

• The Latin alphabet letter C was derived from gamma.
• The Cyrillic alphabet letter _ is also derived from gamma.

Related Pages

• Greek alphabet
• Phoenician alphabet
• Gamma rays
• Gamma function