What Letter Is This? A Stupid Question About Scripted Letters

[Manchot]

This question's going to sound really stupid, but here goes: what letter is this supposed to be? I just came across it in a book of mine, but for the life of me, I can't tell whether it's a scripted R, n, or even pi. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's an n, simply because it looks somewhat like a lowercase n. However, if it is a scripted lowercase letter, then why is it the size of the uppercase letters? It's really bothering me, because when I'm reading, I'm not sure what to call it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I can't tell.

 

[Evo]

If you could show it in context we might be able to tell what it is.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It looks like a script pi to me...

 

[zoobyshoe]

Its sum fansy ritin', aint it?

 

[pattylou]

I vote pi.

 

[Manchot]

Ok, the mystery letter is in Terrell Hill's "An Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics," and refers to the number of systems in an "ensemble" of systems. (That's another reason why I would lean towards n.)

 

[Pengwuino]

Thats the Penguin Constant.

Since penguins are lazy, it is simply "1", no units.

 

[Manchot]

You know, Pengwuino, our user names are very closely related. Look up the word "Manchot" in a French-English dictionary

 

[Pengwuino]

haha, the Manchot constant :D

Damn, google even has a translator... why don't we all just run our lives off google.

 

[Knavish]

Definitely an n.

 

[zoobyshoe]

It's a hieroglyph from the wreckage at Roswell.

 

[Manchot]

Are you basing that on its looks or on the context?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Are you basing that on its looks or on the context?

No, that's the information that was just beamed into my head from the mothership.

 

[JamesU]

it's either an n or an r. if it's alphanumeric, of course

 

[Smurf]

looks like a pi to me.

 

[honestrosewater]

It looks kind of like the same font as
\Re \Im
but I can't find the name of it yet...
I think it's an N though.

Yeah, I give up. But if you look at those kinds of fonts, for example,
http://zoonek.free.fr/LaTeX/MF/amsfonts/sources_euler_eufm10.mf.essai.gif
that's what the N looks like. And the fonts have very similar characteristics.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think I saw that symbol chiseled in a piece of granite in the New Hampshire woods by a 10th century group of Irish monks who crossed the Atlantic in a skin boat.

 

[Smurf]

I think I saw that symbol chiseled in a piece of granite in the New Hampshire woods by a 10th century group of Irish monks who crossed the Atlantic in a skin boat.

Ah.. we've discov... WAIT A MINUTE! There were no monks in new hampshire in the 10th century. You're making this UP!

 

[zoobyshoe]

You're making this UP!

It's somewhat embellished, yes, but it is basically true: there were monks in Ireland at the time, and there was granite in new Hampshire.

 

[Manchot]

I think I've figured it out. It's the Fraktur N, which as it turns out, is implemented in TeX. See for yourself:

\mathfrak{N}

 

[JamesU]

I KNEW IT! it wasn't \pi

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think I've figured it out. It's the Fraktur N, which as it turns out, is implemented in TeX. See for yourself:

\mathfrak{N}

That looks very close, yes.

 

[honestrosewater]

Elementary, my dear Watson!