Is there an alphabet of scientific symbols and letters?
I searched but couldn’t find one, I would like to understand the language of science better but it all seams Japanese to me, a simple description of the letters and symbols used would make learning it far simpler.
thanks in advance 
it wouldn’t be useful, that’s why you haven’t found it. they’re pretty much all explained fully in the context that they’re in. there are too many to list them all, if you’re studying something that uses one of these symbols, the information about what it means will likely be available.
Science uses the Greek alphabet as was the custom 200 years ago for variables along with Arabic letters. Many letters have become typical representations for specific things like c for the speed of light, Greek rho for density, Greek mu for permittivity, h for Plank’s constant, pi for… well… for pi, and such. But those aren’t required as such. They are merely typical usage. Any one of them might also be used as an angle in geometry. Each stands merely for a variable or constant in equations. Any letter could be used as long as it was pointed out as to what was meant.
We could make one? - either you, I or someone else can keep updating one of our posts each time anyone suggests new additions?
Start with the basics, I guess. SI base units:
l = length, b = breadth, h = height (metres, m)
m = mass (kilograms, kg)
t = time (seconds, s)
I = electric current (amperes, A)
T = thermodynamic temperature (kelvins, K)
I[size=60]v[/size] = luminous intensity (candelas, cd)
n = amount of substance (moles, mol)
It makes a big difference whether the letter is upper or lower case, and whether we’re talking about what’s been measured or its unit of measurement. The former is what you get in equations. Some famous equations that introduce other well-used abbreviations include:
F=ma, where F = force, m is mass (as above) and a = acceleration. Acceleration is measured in metres per second per second (metres per second squared).
W=Fd, where W = work (or energy, written as E and measured in joules, J), F = force (again), and d = distance. d for distance is confusing, but it’s just the same as length in metres, m.
P=W/t, where P = power, W = work (as before) and t = time, is in the SI base units.
P=IV, another equation about power, but in relation to current (as in SI base units) and V = voltage
V=IR is for voltage, V, in terms of electric current, I, and R = resistance.
For all the above equations, if two letters are together it means one multiplied by the other (e.g. V = IxR). The forward slash, / is obviously “divided by”.
Small v = velocity. This is like speed but it’s a “vector”, which is similar to speed but it’s as though you took the most direct route. For example, if you travelled in a squiggly line, speed would take into account the whole line - whereas velocity would only take into account the direct distance from start to finish.
Speed is “scalar”, and can also be written as v, but also s (not to be confused with the unit of time, seconds, s).
v=λf when we’re talking about waves. v is wave velocity, λ = wavelength (greek “l” for length) and f = frequency (which is measured in Hertz, hz). Hertz in SI base units is 1/s (1 over time, in seconds, s) i.e. “per unit of time”. So all this is obvious when wave velocity (like speed) = wavelength (like distance) per unit of time (Hertz = per second).
There’s a buttload of constants too. Famous ones:
g = earth’s gravity (9.81). This is an “acceleration”, in metres per second squared.
G = universal gravitational constant (6.67428x10 to the -11) N.B. I don’t know how to write Standard Form on this forum. x10 to the -11 just means move the decimal point 11 places to the left → 0.0000000000667428. Yeah, it’s a small constant.
h = plank’s constant. As from earlier, h is also height, so context matters a lot. h=E/f, where E= energy, as before, and f= frequency, as before.
c = speed of light (299,792,458). Pretty much bang on 3x10 to the 8 (Standard form again) and measured in metres per second, obviously.
Big C=πd, where C = circumference, π is 3.14159265 etc. and d is distance again.
Greek is used a lot. It seems weird, since the Greek pronunciation of their own letters is always different to the English. π is like “pie” in English, but is more like “pee” in Greek… amusingly enough. μ is sometimes called “moo” (like a cow) or “mew” (like a cat) in English, but is actually more like “me” in Greek. Alpha is more like Arlpha, Beta is more like Veta, Gamma is more like… oh jeez. Well if you make the “plosive” G sound into a “fricative” - like a cat hiss (lol) but with your vocal chords vibrating (voiced)… as G (voiced) is to K (voiceless)… the K equvalent is much more like the cat hiss, it’s the Greek X, or “chi”… (not like the ch- in church though)…
Anyway. The Greek D, Delta (actually pronounced more like Thelta but not quite like Theta, θ, lol (which is often used to denote angles within a shape)) is used in maths and science - but as a function rather than a unit or measurement. It basically means “change in”. You get it a lot in Energy equations etc. Δ or δ. I forget the difference between upper and lower case but there is one.
A common mathsy Greek letter is the Capital Sigma, Σ, meaning “sum of”.
Phi (Phee in Greek and Phigh in English), ϕ is my favourite - the divine ratio. 1:ϕ is 1:1.61803 etc. This is more maths though - you get it all over nature, it’s the ratio between lengths in your own body etc., e.g. the bones in your fingers.
Back to English, i and e are constants that are used plenty in maths, sometimes science. i is an imaginery number: the square root of minus 1. This doesn’t actually exist, but if you treat it like it does, some pretty useful stuff comes of it. e is Euler’s constant: 2.71828 etc. Something to do with tangent lines on a graph passing through the coordinate x=0, y=1… useful number. I think it’s related to logarithms, or “log” in abbreviated form.
sin, cos and tan are abbreviations for Sine, Cosine and Tangent. This is trigonometry, which literally means “measuring triangles” - more Greek here.
a, b, c etc. are generally used in algebra for constants, and x, y, z in algebra as variables - going in reverse through the English alphabet.
I’ll leave this for now, perhaps some of it might even be new?
Since you mentioned Japanese, I can explain Katakana to you if you like 
I’m a complete noob in Hiragana and Kanji though.
Thank you for your replies!
I wondered if they made it up as they go along, though I thought there would be some fundamental set ~ why on earth there is not I cannot understand?
How much simpler would it be to understand science if you could look at a formula and instantly know what the constituents are. I often see formulas quoted and there is no way to work out what it means if you don’t already have a scientific dictionary in your head.
does f = function?
Should also add;
[size=200]∞ [/size]infinity
Silhouette
A special thanks for your extra effort, I think that’s a great idea!
ps.
Thinking about candles, I have an idea; wouldn’t it be cool if there were candles with different coloured flames. I assume that to do so would be achieved by increasing/reducing the temperature the flame burns at, any ideas?
The mathematics symbols are defined. Just look into any Mathematics reference.
You change the color of a flame by changing what it is burning. Copper burns green. I have forgotten what they commonly use for the other colors.
Yes I wondered about that, but I’m not sure what that would be like to smell or inhale when burned. I am more thinking of ways to change the temperature at which wax burns to achieve the colour, if possible.
One question; why isn’t the speed of light use as the fundamental measure of speed [and time perhaps]?
and universal gravity constant as the basic measure for gravitational forces.
For some reason I’m in a sorting mood.
Bear in mind that there’s a zillion scientific terms and constants for each letter and version of each letter - context is crucial. These are only the most common. Like others keep saying, the terms are usually defined in the paper or whatever it is you’re reading.
Term abbreviations:
a = acceleration
b = breadth
C = circumference
c = speed of light
cos = Cosine
d = distance, or “differential of” (d/dx = differential with respect to x)
Δ or δ = “change in”
E = energy
e = Euler’s constant
F = force
f = frequency, or “function of”
G = universal gravitational constant
g = earth’s gravity
h = height, or Planck’s constant
I = electric current
i = square root of -1
I[size=60]v[/size] = luminous intensity
l = length
ln = natural logarithm (log to the base “e”)
log = logarithm
λ = wavelength
m = mass
μ = coefficient of friction
n = amount of substance
P = power
π = pi
ϕ = divine ratio (relative to “1”)
R = resistance
s = speed*
Σ = “sum of”
ʃ = “integral of”
sin = Sine
T = thermodynamic temperature
t = time
θ = plane angle
tan = Tangent
V = voltage
v = velocity (vector) or speed* (scalar)
W = work
∞ = infinity
Units:
A = amperes
degrees C = celcius or centigrade
cd = candelas
degrees F = fahrenheit
g = grams (SI is kg, kilograms)
Hz = hertz
J = joules
K = kelvins
m = metres
mol = moles
pH = acidity (percentage/power hydrogen)
s = seconds
V = volts
Ω = ohms
I imagine we don’t measure all gravity against G because G is such a small number - relative to what happens on earth, g is much more relevant.
Same goes for the speed of light being pretty large, with most relevant speeds being closer to 0.
Using K for temperature in Kelvins isn’t so bad, Zero Kelvin is only -273 degrees C - though we often just stick to degrees C, (or F to a much lesser extent) anyway.
Silhouette
Thanks that’s great! I was going to try to sort them all out in an order myself, so I am glad you did.
If I were going to express the notion of transmigration, would it be something like below…
note; transmigration is the movement from one body/container to another, or as with OOB experiments the experience of that rather than the actual occurrence, so it can be a change of the epicentre of ones perception.
Oc [occupant]
Ct [contain]
~ [transfer]
Oc +/- Ct ~ Oc +/- Ct
Where one can supplant Oc with pe for a change of perceptive epicentre.
Because they already setup the standards long before they knew that light had a speed.
The same reason we have the “Second Law of Thermodynamics”.
They are always trying to proclaim the prize of having it all figured out before their time.
Ha they do indeed.
Surely they could change things? Though I understand that would give us impossibly large numbers in every day life, but one could get around that by using a scale.
I think Chinese letters would be far better than greek and Arabic, they are more self expressive e.g. for my above attempt at expressing transmigration, there would already be a character for ‘contain’ [part of house I do believe], occupy and transferral . Interestingly the character for ‘world’ means circles within circles.
Well, you could tell them, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.