Beta

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Beta (UK: /ˈbtə/, US: /ˈbtə/; uppercase Β, lowercase β, or cursive ϐ; Ancient Greek: βῆτα, romanizedbē̂ta or Greek: βήτα, romanizedvíta) 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[edit]

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[edit]

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).[citation needed]

Uses[edit]

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

Algebraic numerals[edit]

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

Computing[edit]

Finance[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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

Mathematics and science[edit]

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[edit]

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

Slang[edit]

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[edit]

In statistics, beta may represent type II error, or regression slope.

Typography[edit]

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[edit]

"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[edit]

  • Greek Beta


Character information
Preview Β β ϐ
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA GREEK BETA SYMBOL MODIFIER LETTER SMALL BETA GREEK SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER BETA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 914 U+0392 946 U+03B2 976 U+03D0 7517 U+1D5D 7526 U+1D66
UTF-8 206 146 CE 92 206 178 CE B2 207 144 CF 90 225 181 157 E1 B5 9D 225 181 166 E1 B5 A6
Numeric character reference Β Β β β ϐ ϐ ᵝ ᵝ ᵦ ᵦ
Named character reference Β β
DOS Greek 129 81 153 99
DOS Greek-2 165 A5 215 D7
Windows 1253 194 C2 226 E2
TeX \beta
  • Coptic Vida


Character information
Preview
Unicode name COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER VIDA COPTIC SMALL LETTER VIDA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 11394 U+2C82 11395 U+2C83
UTF-8 226 178 130 E2 B2 82 226 178 131 E2 B2 83
Numeric character reference Ⲃ Ⲃ ⲃ ⲃ



Character information
Preview
Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER BETA LATIN SMALL LETTER BETA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 42932 U+A7B4 42933 U+A7B5
UTF-8 234 158 180 EA 9E B4 234 158 181 EA 9E B5
Numeric character reference Ꞵ Ꞵ ꞵ ꞵ
  • Mathematical Beta


Character information
Preview 𝚩 𝛃 𝛣 𝛽 𝜝 𝜷
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
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 120489 U+1D6A9 120515 U+1D6C3 120547 U+1D6E3 120573 U+1D6FD 120605 U+1D71D 120631 U+1D737
UTF-8 240 157 154 169 F0 9D 9A A9 240 157 155 131 F0 9D 9B 83 240 157 155 163 F0 9D 9B A3 240 157 155 189 F0 9D 9B BD 240 157 156 157 F0 9D 9C 9D 240 157 156 183 F0 9D 9C B7
UTF-16 55349 57001 D835 DEA9 55349 57027 D835 DEC3 55349 57059 D835 DEE3 55349 57085 D835 DEFD 55349 57117 D835 DF1D 55349 57143 D835 DF37
Numeric character reference 𝚩 𝚩 𝛃 𝛃 𝛣 𝛣 𝛽 𝛽 𝜝 𝜝 𝜷 𝜷


Character information
Preview 𝝗 𝝱 𝞑 𝞫
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
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 120663 U+1D757 120689 U+1D771 120721 U+1D791 120747 U+1D7AB
UTF-8 240 157 157 151 F0 9D 9D 97 240 157 157 177 F0 9D 9D B1 240 157 158 145 F0 9D 9E 91 240 157 158 171 F0 9D 9E AB
UTF-16 55349 57175 D835 DF57 55349 57201 D835 DF71 55349 57233 D835 DF91 55349 57259 D835 DFAB
Numeric character reference 𝝗 𝝗 𝝱 𝝱 𝞑 𝞑 𝞫 𝞫

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[edit]

  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.