What is the name of this character?

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter luitzen
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying a specific character encountered in a physics context, particularly related to the momentum of electromagnetic waves as referenced in Griffiths. Participants explore its potential origins in Latin or Greek alphabets and its mathematical significance.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests the character is a fancy cursive P, commonly used to denote the power set in mathematics.
  • Another participant proposes that the character could represent the golden ratio, although they note it looks different from the Greek lowercase "phi."
  • Some participants mention the symbol \wp, associated with the Weierstrass p function, as a possible identification of the character.
  • There is a discussion about whether the character is a Latin "P" or a Greek "rho," with references to the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass who created the character.
  • Clarifications are made regarding the use of the Latin alphabet in German, emphasizing that it does not have its own alphabet.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on the identity of the character, with no consensus reached on whether it is a Latin or Greek symbol, or its specific mathematical usage.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved assumptions regarding the visual characteristics of the character and its context in mathematical literature, which may influence interpretations.

luitzen
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I'm not really sure whether this is the correct place for this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.

I've had Latin and Greek classes in high school, but I've never seen this character before. Still, I guess it's an obscure Latin or Greek character, but I don't know it's name. I encountered it in Griffiths where it's used for the momentum of EM-waves.

[PLAIN]http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9220/unknowncharacter.jpg
 
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It's just a fancy cursive P.

In mathematics, it's usually used to mean the power set.
 
TetraEleven said:
Golden ratio?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio
That's a Greek lowercase "phi". The OP's character looks quite different to me, as it doesn't have the straight-down tail at the bottom like "phi" does.
 
I think the original poster means the symbol \wp.

I confess I only ever recall seeing the symbol used for the function[/url] (possibly I've seen it in some fancy cursive script).

Wikipedia has a page on it: Weierstrass p.



A symbol often used for power set is \mathcal{P}.
The fancy phi mentinoed is \varphi.
 
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Redbelly98 said:
That's a Greek lowercase "phi". The OP's character looks quite different to me, as it doesn't have the straight-down tail at the bottom like "phi" does.


I figured they probably weren't the same, but I thought I'd try to help anyway.
 
Hurkyl said:
I think the original poster means the symbol \wp.

I confess I only ever recall seeing the symbol used for the function[/url] (possibly I've seen it in some fancy cursive script).

Wikipedia has a page on it: Weierstrass p.

Way to go, Hurkyl.
 
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That's it, so that means it's a Latin P, right?
 
Or German?
 
  • #10
No, German doesn't have it's own alphabet, it uses the Latin alphabet. So the question was whether it was a capital rho or pee.
 
  • #11
It's not from the German alphabet. It's a character created by the German mathematician Karl Weierstrass.
 
  • #12
We already established that 3 days ago. German does not have an alphabet. I was asking whether it is a Latin pee or Greek rho.
 

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