Talk:Delta (letter)

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Spathaky in topic Mathematics

Partial Derivative Symbol? edit

Is it true that delta is the partial derivative symbol? This symbol   is definitely not a normal delta in typography, but I have heard it argued that this is merely a different variation of the letter (like phi). Information on this is somewhat misleading: this site implies that the two are different, whereas this one suggests the opposite. Unixfanatic (talk) 02:28, 28 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Page naming convention edit

The result of the debate was move. —Nightstallion (?) Seen this already? 10:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)Reply

This page should be at Delta (letter) and Delta (disambiguation) should be here. There does not exist an overriding single meaning for "delta" and thus the un-suffixed page should be the disambiguation. - brenneman{L} 04:05, 3 April 2006 (UTC)Reply

Move edit

  • Support. How is it logical to have this article for the Greek letter rather than the dis-ambiguation page?? Georgia guy 21:07, 3 May 2006 (UTC)Reply
  • Support Looks like this was done as a cut and paste move on March 10 2006 without any discussion. If possible, it would be nice to re-unite the edit history for the letter with Delta (letter) The edit history of the disambiguation page before March 10 is here. What a mess. olderwiser 03:06, 4 May 2006 (UTC)Reply
  • Oppose This is the primary meaning, from which the others are derived. Septentrionalis 02:59, 5 May 2006 (UTC)Reply
  • Support, not clearly overwhelmingly most common meaning. Kusma (討論) 00:22, 8 May 2006 (UTC)Reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Histories have been merged. —Nightstallion (?) Seen this already? 10:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)Reply

Does Δ mean "deletion" in genetics? edit

The CCR5 article speaks about the deletion which causes CCR5Δ32. With the DNA testing company FamilyTreeDNA they call it the del32 mutution and call that a deletion mutation. So is "Δ" genetic abbr. for deletion? If so, it should be added to the article. Nagelfar 20:52, 27 February 2007 (UTC)Reply

WP:Be bold. Nagelfar 10:22, 15 June 2007 (UTC)Reply

upside down A edit

Is this a joke? Is this vandalism? Is this possibly legitimate? I seriously doubt it's legitimate, but I've been wrong before. Zenintendofanatic 17:41, 3 October 2007 (UTC)Reply


If anything an "A" is an upside down ox head, based on Egyptian Hieroglyphs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.134.139.70 (talk) 17:28, 28 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Music Chords edit

A delta is used in some music chords, but I'm not sure what kind. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.161.109.6 (talk) 02:02, 8 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Internet Meme edit

I don't understand why, but capitol delta is very popular on the internet (especially tumblr)!

Infinitessimal Calculus edit

Lower case delta does not represent an infinitessimal change but rather a small finite one (as opposed to capital delta which represents any size change). 'd' is used to represent an infinitessimal change.

If there is a convention that uses delta in place of d then it would be worth mentioning that this isn't the only (nor most common) usage. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.185.4 (talk) 13:57, 12 February 2013 (UTC)Reply

Equilateral triangle? edit

"The capital letter Delta (Δ, which has the convenient form of an equilateral triangle)"

Is there any reliable source about the equilateral nature of Δ? IMHO it's only an isoceles triangle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.132.250.13 (talk) 06:07, 21 February 2013 (UTC)Reply

Delta-v edit

Shouldn't this page contain any reference to Delta-v? 83.255.204.145 (talk) 18:13, 1 November 2013 (UTC)Reply

Mathematics edit

I am unhappy about the representation of the lower case delta as δ in the lead paragraph and in some other places in the article. It is not a form I am familiar with (having studied physics and maths to degree level). It may be usual in modern Greek - I don't know - but it is commonly used in mathematics, physics, etc. simply as a name of a variable, as are other Greek letters, and in this context it normally has the represenation 𝛿. I propose to alter the first sentence to read "Delta (uppercase Δ, lowercase δ or 𝛿;..." Mike Spathaky (talk) 11:18, 16 December 2013 (UTC)Reply

Now altered. Mike Spathaky (talk) 23:42, 6 January 2014 (UTC)Reply