Beta (UK: /ˈbtə/, US: /ˈbtə/; uppercase Β, lowercase β, or cursive ϐ; Ancient Greek: βῆτα, romanized: bē̂ta or Greek: βήτα, romanized: víta) 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 IPA: [b]. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative IPA: [v] while IPA: [b] in borrowed words is instead commonly transcribed as μπ.[1][2] Letters that arose from beta include the Roman letter B and the Cyrillic letters Б and В.

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 *bait ('house'). In Greek, the name was βῆτα bêta, pronounced [bɛ̂ːta] in Ancient Greek. It is spelled βήτα in modern monotonic orthography and pronounced [ˈvita].

History

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, ), there were forms as varied as (Gortyn), and (Thera), (Argos), (Melos), (Corinth), (Megara, Byzantium), and (Cyclades).

Uses

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′.

Computing

Finance

Beta is used in finance as a measure of (historical; pseudo-implied) financial asset sensitivity to the relevant benchmark index. Conditional on the benchmark index, the resulting beta value can vary considerably (S&P500 vs NASDAQ vs ETF of a specific industry).

Beta should not be confused with standard deviation (or the semi-variance, which considers only negative returns): the preferred measure of the "riskiness" (historical volatility of returns) of a financial asset or a portfolio in isolation.

Beta can be calculated as the covariance of a financial asset (or portfolio) with its benchmark index, divided by the variance of the benchmark index. Since the industry of finance gravitates towards return generating activities, typically the historical returns (percentage changes) are used in the calculations Beta values (among others). There are numerous other methods a financial analyst can employ to derive Beta values if historical prices are not available. Beta values change over time (company restructuring; industry sentiment; endo/exogenous factors). Beta values also vary, conditional on the time period used in calculating a Beta value. Beta values can be negative, which infers the existence of financial assets which historically, tended to move in opposite directions to one another by some unit value. It would seem these are the optimal "hedges" to offset market-draw-downs, during periods of market-stress and poor liquidity Beta values can vary dramatically, and previously low or even negative correlations converge to "1".

A beta of 1.5 implies that for every 1% change in the value of the benchmark index, the portfolio's value tends to change by 1.5%. The greater the absolute value, the greater the implied move.

International Phonetic Alphabet

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Greek minuscule beta denotes a voiced bilabial fricative [β].

A superscript version may also indicate a compressed vowel, like [ɯᵝ].

Meteorology

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

Mathematics and science

Beta is often used to denote a variable in mathematics and physics, where it often has specific meanings for certain applications. In physics a stream of unbound energetic electrons is commonly referred to as beta radiation or beta rays. Decays producing electrons or their antiparticles are called beta decays. In regression analysis, B symbolizes nonstandardized partial slope coefficients, whereas β 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. 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.

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 α and β.

In spaceflight, beta angle describes the angle between the orbit plane of a spacecraft or other body and the vector from the sun.

β is sometimes used to mean the proton-to-electron mass ratio.

The uppercase letter beta is not generally used as a symbol because it tends to be rendered identically to the uppercase Latin B.

Rock climbing terminology

The term "beta" refers to advice on how to successfully complete a particular climbing route, boulder problem, or crux sequence.[3]

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.[4][5] 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.[6][7] 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, 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: βίβλος is printed βίϐλος.[8]

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.[9]

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.
  • 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.

Character encodings

  • Greek Beta
Character information
PreviewΒβϐ
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA GREEK BETA SYMBOL MODIFIER LETTER SMALL BETA GREEK SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER BETA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode914U+0392946U+03B2976U+03D07517U+1D5D7526U+1D66
UTF-8206 146CE 92206 178CE B2207 144CF 90225 181 157E1 B5 9D225 181 166E1 B5 A6
Numeric character referenceΒΒββϐϐᵝᵝᵦᵦ
Named character referenceΒβ
DOS Greek1298115399
DOS Greek-2165A5215D7
Windows 1253194C2226E2
TeX\beta
  • Coptic Vida
Character information
Preview
Unicode name COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER VIDA COPTIC SMALL LETTER VIDA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode11394U+2C8211395U+2C83
UTF-8226 178 130E2 B2 82226 178 131E2 B2 83
Numeric character referenceⲂⲂⲃⲃ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER BETA LATIN SMALL LETTER BETA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode42932U+A7B442933U+A7B5
UTF-8234 158 180EA 9E B4234 158 181EA 9E B5
Numeric character referenceꞴꞴꞵꞵ
  • Mathematical Beta
Character information
Preview𝚩𝛃𝛣𝛽𝜝𝜷
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL BOLD
CAPITAL BETA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD
SMALL BETA
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
CAPITAL BETA
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
SMALL BETA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
CAPITAL BETA
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
SMALL BETA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120489U+1D6A9120515U+1D6C3120547U+1D6E3120573U+1D6FD120605U+1D71D120631U+1D737
UTF-8240 157 154 169F0 9D 9A A9240 157 155 131F0 9D 9B 83240 157 155 163F0 9D 9B A3240 157 155 189F0 9D 9B BD240 157 156 157F0 9D 9C 9D240 157 156 183F0 9D 9C B7
UTF-1655349 57001D835 DEA955349 57027D835 DEC355349 57059D835 DEE355349 57085D835 DEFD55349 57117D835 DF1D55349 57143D835 DF37
Numeric character reference𝚩𝚩𝛃𝛃𝛣𝛣𝛽𝛽𝜝𝜝𝜷𝜷
Character information
Preview𝝗𝝱𝞑𝞫
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD CAPITAL BETA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD SMALL BETA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL BETA
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC SMALL BETA
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120663U+1D757120689U+1D771120721U+1D791120747U+1D7AB
UTF-8240 157 157 151F0 9D 9D 97240 157 157 177F0 9D 9D B1240 157 158 145F0 9D 9E 91240 157 158 171F0 9D 9E AB
UTF-1655349 57175D835 DF5755349 57201D835 DF7155349 57233D835 DF9155349 57259D835 DFAB
Numeric character reference𝝗𝝗𝝱𝝱𝞑𝞑𝞫𝞫

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.

References

  1. "UN Romanization of Greek for Geographical Names (1987)". www.eki.ee. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  2. "Pronouncing the Greek Alphabet". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  3. Rock and Ice (3 October 2016). "Rock & Ice – Climbing Terminology".
  4. Hawley, P. H.; Little, Todd D.; Card, Noel A. (January 2008). "The myth of the alpha male: A new look at dominance-related beliefs and behaviors among adolescent males and females". International Journal of Behavioral Development. 32 (1): 76–88. doi:10.1177/0165025407084054. S2CID 145156929.
  5. Hosie, Rachel (9 May 2017). "The Myth of the Alpha Male". The Independent.
  6. Jones, Callum; Trott, Verity; Wright, Scott (2020). "Sluts and soyboys: MGTOW and the production of misogynistic online harassment". New Media & Society. 22 (10): 1903–1921. doi:10.1177/1461444819887141. ISSN 1461-4448. S2CID 210530415.
  7. Nicholas, Lucy; Agius, Christine (2018). The Persistence of Global Masculinism: Discourse, Gender and Neo-Colonial Re-Articulations of Violence. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68360-7. ISBN 978-3-319-68359-1. LCCN 2017954971. Archived from the original on 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  8. Haralambous, Yannis (1999). "From Unicode to typography, a case study: the Greek script" (PDF). p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-15.
  9. Aguilar Ruiz, Manuel José (2013). ""Las normas ortográficas y ortotipográficas de la nueva Ortografía de la lengua española (2010) aplicadas a las publicaciones biomédicas en español: una visión de conjunto" (PDF). Panace@. 14 (37): 104.
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