Latin characters

Symbol

Meaning
area
magnetic vector potential
amplitude
acceleration
magnetic flux density
also called the magnetic field density or
magnetic induction
capacitance
heat capacity
constant of integration
speed of light (in vacuum)
speed of sound
specific heat capacity

SI unit of measure
meter squared (m2)

meter per second squared (m/s2) or

(m s2)
tesla (T), or equivalently,
weber per square meter (Wb/m2)
farad
joule per kelvin (J K1), or equivalently,
joule per degree Celsius (J C1)
varied depending on context
299,792,458 meter per second (m/s)
340.29 meter per second (m/s)
joule per kilogram per kelvin (J kg1 K1),
or equivalently, joule per kilogram per
degree Celsius (J kg1 C1)
kilogram per second

viscous damping coefficient

electric displacement field
coulomb per square meter (C/m2)
also called the electric flux density
distance
meter (m)
impact parameter
meter (m)
diameter
differential (e.g.
)
differential vector element of surface area A,
with infinitesimally
small magnitude and direction normal to
surface S

square meter (m2)

differential element of volume V enclosed by

cubic meter (m3)
surface S
newton per coulomb (N C1), or
electric field
equivalently, volt per meter (V m1)
energy
joule (J)
eccentricity
unitless
2.71828... (base of the natural logarithm),
electron, elementary charge
force
newton (N)
frequency
hertz (Hz)
function
1

friction
the gravitational constant
acceleration due to gravity
magnetic field strength
also called just magnetic field
Hamiltonian
height
Planck's constant
reduced Planck's constant
action
intensity
sound intensity
electric current
moment of inertia
Cartesian x-axis basis unit vector
intensity
imaginary unit
free current density,
not including polarization or magnetization
currents bound in a material
Cartesian y-axis basis unit vector
kinetic energy
Cartesian z-axis basis unit vector
Boltzmann constant
wavenumber
inductance
luminosity
angular momentum
length
magnetization
moment of force
often simply called moment or torque
mass
normal vector
atomic number
refractive index
principal quantum number
power
momentum
pressure
electric charge
Heat

newton meter squared per kilogram

squared (N m2/kg2)
ampere per meter (A/m)
joule (J)
meter
joule second (J s)
joule second (J s)
joule second (J s)
watt per square meter (W/m2)
watt per square meter (W/m2)
ampere (A)
unitless
watt per square meter (W/m2)

ampere per square meter (A/m2)

unitless
joule (J)
unitless
joule per kelvin (J/K)
radians per meter (m-1)
henry (H)
watt (W)
newton meter second (N m s or kg m2 s1)
meter
ampere per meter (A/m)
newton meter (N m)
kilogram (kg)
unit varies depending on context
unitless
unitless
unitless
watt (W)
kilogram meter per second (kg m/s)
pascal (Pa)
coulomb (C)
joule (J)
2

electric charge
electrical resistance
Ricci tensor
radiancy
radius of rotation or distance between two
things such as the masses in Newton's law
of universal gravitation
radius vector (position)
surface area
entropy
action
arc length
displacement
period
thermodynamic temperature
also called absolute temperature
time
four-velocity
potential energy
internal energy
relativistic mass
energy density
voltage
also called electric potential difference
volume
shear force
velocity
mechanical work
width
a generic unknown
displacement
electrical impedance

coulomb (C)
ohm ()
unitless

meter (m)

m2
J/K
meter (m)
second (s)
kelvin (K)
second (s)
meter per second (m/s)
joule (J)
joule (J)
kilogram (kg)
joule per cubic meter (J/m3) or joule per
kilogram (J/kg) depending on the context
volt (V)
m3
meter per second (m/s)
joule
meter (m)
varied depending on context
meter
ohm ()

Greek characters
Symbol Name

Meaning

alpha angular acceleration

beta velocity in terms of the speed of light c
Lorentz factor
photon
gamma gamma ray
shear strain
Heat capacity ratio

SI unit of measure
radian per second squared
(rad/s2)
unitless
unitless

unitless
3

a change in a variable (e.g.

)
Laplace operator
delta displacement (usually small)
permittivity
epsilon
strain
zeta damping ratio
energy efficiency
eta coefficient of viscosity
also called simply viscosity
theta angular displacement
torsion coefficient
kappa
also called torsion constant
cosmological constant
lambda
wavelength
magnetic moment
coefficient of friction
mu
dynamic viscosity
permeability (electromagnetism)
frequency
nu
kinematic viscosity
delta

3.14159... (irrational number)

mass density
usually simply called density
free electric charge density,
rho
not including dipole charges bound in a
material
resistivity
sigma summation operator
electrical conductivity
sigma
normal stress
torque
tau shear stress
time constant
field strength
phi
magnetic flux
electric potential

unitless

farad per meter (F/m)

unitless
unitless
unitless
pascal second (Pa s)
radian (rad)
newton meter per radian
(N m/rad)
per second squared (s2)
meter (m)
ampere square meter (A m2)
Pascal second (Pa s)
Henry per meter (H/m)
hertz (Hz)
meters squared per second
(m2/s)

pi

phi

kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m3)

coulomb per cubic meter (C/m3)
Ohm meter (

Siemens per meter (S/m)

newton meter (N m)
second (s)
unit varies depending on context
Weber (Wb)

Higgs Field

psi wave function

omega ohm
omega angular frequency

unitless
radian per second (rad/s)

Other characters
4

Symbol

Name

Meaning

SI unit of
measure

the divergence operator

per meter (m1)
often pronounced "del dot"
the curl operator
nabla cross
per meter (m1)
often pronounced "del cross"
nabla
del (differential operator)
"der", "dow", "die", "partial" or simply partial derivative (e.g.
"d"
)
nabla dot