Xi (letter)

Xi is the name of the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet (uppercase Ξ, lowercase ξ; Greek: ξι), representing the voiceless consonant cluster IPA: [ks]. It is pronounced [ksi] in Modern Greek, and generally /z/ or /ks/ in English.[1] In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 60. Xi was derived from the Phoenician letter samekh .

Xi is distinct from the letter chi, which gave its form to the Latin letter X.

Greek

A joined variant of Ξ (New Athena Unicode font).

Both in classical Ancient Greek and in Modern Greek, the letter Ξ represents the consonant cluster /ks/. In some archaic local variants of the Greek alphabet, this letter was missing. Instead, especially in the dialects of most of the Greek mainland and Euboea, the cluster /ks/ was represented by Χ (which in classical Greek is chi, used for /kʰ/).

Because this variant of the Greek alphabet was used in Magna Graecia (the Greek colonies in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula), the Latin alphabet borrowed Χ rather than Ξ as the Latin letter that represented the /ks/ cluster that was also present in Latin.

Cyrillic

The Xi was adopted into the early Cyrillic alphabet, as the letter ksi (Ѯ, ѯ).

Mathematics and science

Uppercase

The uppercase letter Ξ is used as a symbol in various contexts.

Pure mathematics

Physics

  • The "cascade particles" in particle physics
  • The partition function under the grand canonical ensemble in statistical mechanics

Other uses

  • Indicating "no change of state" in Z notation in computing
  • Monetary units of the cryptocurrencies Ether (and less commonly ETC), equal to 1018 Wei

Lowercase

The lowercase letter ξ is used as a symbol for:

Pure mathematics

  • Random variables
  • A parameter in a generalized Pareto distribution
  • The symmetric function equation of the Riemann zeta function in mathematics, also known as the Riemann Xi function
  • A universal set in set theory
  • A number used in the remainder term of Taylor's theorem that falls between the limits a and b
  • A number used in error approximations for formulas that are applications of Taylor's theorem, such as Newton–Cotes formulas

Physics and astronomy

  • In fluid dynamics, the Iribarren parameter.
  • The initial mass function in astronomy.
  • The correlation function in astronomy.
  • Spatial frequency;[2] also sometimes temporal frequency.
  • A small displacement in MHD plasma stability theory
  • The x-coordinate of computational space as used in computational fluid dynamics
  • Potential difference in physics (in volts)
  • The radial integral in the spin-orbit matrix operator in atomic physics.
  • The Killing vector in general relativity.
  • Average logarithmic energy decrement per collision (neutron calculations in nuclear physics)
  • Pippard's cohesion length in superconductors
  • The diameter of a crystal nucleus in nucleation theory
  • Microturbulence velocity in a stellar atmosphere
  • The dimensionless longitudinal momentum loss of a beam particle after a two-body interaction in accelerator physics.
  • Dimensionless distance variable used in the Lane–Emden equation

Other uses

  • Propositional variables in some philosophical works, first found in Wittgenstein's Tractatus
  • Extent of reaction, a concept in physical chemistry[3] used often in chemical engineering kinetics and thermochemistry
  • Unknown stereochemistry or stereocentre configuration in a planar ring system in organic chemistry,[4] as well as uppercase Xi for unknown R/S/E/Z configuration in general[5]
  • One of the two different polypeptide chains of the human embryonic hemoglobin types Hb-Portland (ξ2γ2) and Hb-Gower I (ξ2ε2)
  • A parameter denoted as warped time used to derive the equations for homogeneous azeotropic distillation
  • State Price Density in mathematical finance
  • The information vector in the Information Filter, GraphSLAM, and a number of other algorithms used for robot localization and robotic mapping.
  • Used in Support Vector machines in cases where the data is not linearly separable.

Character encodings

Greek Xi / Coptic Ksi

Unicode Code Charts: Greek and Coptic (Range: 0370-03FF)

Character information
PreviewΞξ
Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI GREEK LOWERCASE LETTER XI COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER KSI COPTIC LOWERCASE LETTER KSI
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode926U+039E958U+03BE11420U+2C9C11421U+2C9D
UTF-8206 158CE 9E206 190CE BE226 178 156E2 B2 9C226 178 157E2 B2 9D
Numeric character referenceΞΞξξⲜⲜⲝⲝ
Named character referenceΞξ
DOS Greek1418D165A5
DOS Greek-2189BD232E8
Windows 1253206CE238EE
TeX\Xi\xi

Mathematical Xi

The following 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.

Character information
Preview𝚵𝛏𝛯𝜉𝜩𝝃
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL BOLD
CAPITAL XI
MATHEMATICAL BOLD
LOWERCASE XI
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
CAPITAL XI
MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
LOWERCASE XI
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
CAPITAL XI
MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
LOWERCASE XI
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120501U+1D6B5120527U+1D6CF120559U+1D6EF120585U+1D709120617U+1D729120643U+1D743
UTF-8240 157 154 181F0 9D 9A B5240 157 155 143F0 9D 9B 8F240 157 155 175F0 9D 9B AF240 157 156 137F0 9D 9C 89240 157 156 169F0 9D 9C A9240 157 157 131F0 9D 9D 83
UTF-1655349 57013D835 DEB555349 57039D835 DECF55349 57071D835 DEEF55349 57097D835 DF0955349 57129D835 DF2955349 57155D835 DF43
Numeric character reference𝚵𝚵𝛏𝛏𝛯𝛯𝜉𝜉𝜩𝜩𝝃𝝃
Character information
Preview𝝣𝝽𝞝𝞷
Unicode name MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD CAPITAL XI
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD LOWERCASE XI
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL XI
MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC LOWERCASE XI
Encodingsdecimalhexdechexdechexdechex
Unicode120675U+1D763120701U+1D77D120733U+1D79D120759U+1D7B7
UTF-8240 157 157 163F0 9D 9D A3240 157 157 189F0 9D 9D BD240 157 158 157F0 9D 9E 9D240 157 158 183F0 9D 9E B7
UTF-1655349 57187D835 DF6355349 57213D835 DF7D55349 57245D835 DF9D55349 57271D835 DFB7
Numeric character reference𝝣𝝣𝝽𝝽𝞝𝞝𝞷𝞷

Other uses

Ξ for E in a commercial logo.

Uppercase Ξ is used as an 'E' to stylise company names/logos like Razer (styled as RΛZΞR), Tesla (styled as TΞSLA), musician Banners (styled as BANNΞRS), and in South Korean boy group ZE:A's newest logo (styled as "ZΞA") (Compare: Heavy Metal umlaut; Faux Cyrillic)

References

  1. "xi". New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
  2. SPIE Optipedia article: "Spatial Frequency"
  3. IUPAC Gold Book Entry: "Extent of Reaction" Archived June 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. John Buckingham; Caroline M. Cooper; Rupert Purchase (18 November 2015). Natural Products Desk Reference. CRC Press. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-1-4398-7362-5.
  5. Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry: IUPAC Recommendations and Preferred Names. 2014. pp. 1159–1160. ISBN 9780854041824. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
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