Nu (/ˈnjuː/; uppercase Ν, lowercase ν; Greek: vι ni [ni]) is the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiced alveolar nasal IPA: [n]. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50. It is derived from the Phoenician nun 
. Its Latin equivalent is N, though the lowercase () resembles the Roman lowercase v.
The name of the letter is written νῦ in Ancient Greek and traditional Modern Greek polytonic orthography, while in Modern Greek it is written νι [ni].
Letters that arose from nu include Roman N and Cyrillic script En.
Symbology
The lower-case letter ν is used as a symbol in many academic fields. Uppercase nu is not used, because it appears identical to Latin N.
- Mathematics:
- Degrees of freedom in statistics.
- The greatest fixed point of a function, as commonly used in the μ-calculus.
- Free names of a process, as used in the π-calculus.
- One of the Greeks in mathematical finance, known as "vega".
- The reciprocal of 1 plus the interest rate in finance.
- The p-adic valuation or p-adic order of a number.
- Physics:
- Kinematic viscosity in fluid mechanics.
- The frequency of a wave in physics and other fields; sometimes also spatial frequency; wavenumber
- The specific volume in thermodynamics.
- Poisson's ratio, the ratio of strains perpendicular with and parallel with an applied force.
- Any of three kinds of neutrino in particle physics.
- The number of neutrons released per fission of an atom in nuclear physics.
- Molecular vibrational mode, νx where x is the number of the vibration (a label).
- The true anomaly, an angular parameter that defines the position of a body moving along an orbit (see orbital elements).
- Biology:
- A DNA polymerase found in higher eukaryotes and implicated in translesion synthesis.
- Chemistry:
- The stoichiometric coefficient.
- Psychology:
- The maximum conditioning possible for an unconditioned stimulus in the Rescorla-Wagner model.
Unicode
Encodings of Greek Nu and Coptic Ni.
- U+039D Ν GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU (Ν)
- U+03BD ν GREEK SMALL LETTER NU (ν) (
\nuin TeX) - U+2C9A Ⲛ COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER NI
- U+2C9B ⲛ COPTIC SMALL LETTER NI
- U+1D6B4 𝚴 MATHEMATICAL BOLD CAPITAL NU
- U+1D6CE 𝛎 MATHEMATICAL BOLD SMALL NU
- U+1D6EE 𝛮 MATHEMATICAL ITALIC CAPITAL NU
- U+1D708 𝜈 MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL NU
- U+1D728 𝜨 MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL NU
- U+1D742 𝝂 MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC SMALL NU
- U+1D762 𝝢 MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF BOLD CAPITAL NU
- U+1D77C 𝝼 MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF BOLD SMALL NU
- U+1D79C 𝞜 MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL NU
- U+1D7B6 𝞶 MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF BOLD ITALIC SMALL NU
- The MATHEMATCAL symbols should only be use for math. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.
See also
- Movable nu
References
- Elert, Glenn (2023), "Special Symbols", The Physics Hypertextbook, hypertextbook, retrieved 2025-02-01,
ν kinematic viscosity
- See e.g. Planck's formula
- Unicode Code Charts: Greek and Coptic (Range: 0370-03FF)
Nu ˈ n j uː uppercase N lowercase n Greek vi ni ni is the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet representing the voiced alveolar nasal IPA n In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50 It is derived from the Phoenician nun Its Latin equivalent is N though the lowercase n displaystyle nu resembles the Roman lowercase v The name of the letter is written nῦ in Ancient Greek and traditional Modern Greek polytonic orthography while in Modern Greek it is written ni ni Letters that arose from nu include Roman N and Cyrillic script En SymbologyBust of Nikos Kazantzakis with the traditional Greek nu The lower case letter n is used as a symbol in many academic fields Uppercase nu is not used because it appears identical to Latin N Mathematics Degrees of freedom in statistics The greatest fixed point of a function as commonly used in the m calculus Free names of a process as used in the p calculus One of the Greeks in mathematical finance known as vega The reciprocal of 1 plus the interest rate in finance The p adic valuation or p adic order of a number Physics Kinematic viscosity in fluid mechanics The frequency of a wave in physics and other fields sometimes also spatial frequency wavenumber The specific volume in thermodynamics Poisson s ratio the ratio of strains perpendicular with and parallel with an applied force Any of three kinds of neutrino in particle physics The number of neutrons released per fission of an atom in nuclear physics Molecular vibrational mode nx where x is the number of the vibration a label The true anomaly an angular parameter that defines the position of a body moving along an orbit see orbital elements Biology A DNA polymerase found in higher eukaryotes and implicated in translesion synthesis Chemistry The stoichiometric coefficient Psychology The maximum conditioning possible for an unconditioned stimulus in the Rescorla Wagner model UnicodeEncodings of Greek Nu and Coptic Ni U 039D N GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU amp Nu U 03BD n GREEK SMALL LETTER NU amp nu nu in TeX U 2C9A Ⲛ COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER NI U 2C9B ⲛ COPTIC SMALL LETTER NI U 1D6B4 𝚴 MATHEMATICAL BOLD CAPITAL NU U 1D6CE 𝛎 MATHEMATICAL BOLD SMALL NU U 1D6EE 𝛮 MATHEMATICAL ITALIC CAPITAL NU U 1D708 𝜈 MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL NU U 1D728 𝜨 MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL NU U 1D742 𝝂 MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC SMALL NU U 1D762 𝝢 MATHEMATICAL SANS SERIF BOLD CAPITAL NU U 1D77C 𝝼 MATHEMATICAL SANS SERIF BOLD SMALL NU U 1D79C 𝞜 MATHEMATICAL SANS SERIF BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL NU U 1D7B6 𝞶 MATHEMATICAL SANS SERIF BOLD ITALIC SMALL NUThe MATHEMATCAL symbols should only be use for math Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters with markup and formatting to indicate text style See alsoLook up N or n in Wiktionary the free dictionary Movable nuReferencesElert Glenn 2023 Special Symbols The Physics Hypertextbook hypertextbook retrieved 2025 02 01 n kinematic viscosity See e g Planck s formula Unicode Code Charts Greek and Coptic Range 0370 03FF
