Alpha

The first letter of the Greek alphabet, Α α, also has some cultural meanings; see alpha (letter).

Related Topics:
Greek alphabet - Alpha (letter)

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The symbol α is used to describe:

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• In aerodynamics, the angle of attack, and is termed such in aerospace industry jargon.
• Alpha (Investment), a coefficient measuring the risk-adjusted performance, considering the risk due to the specific security, rather than the overall market.
• Fine-structure constant, usually denoted (Alpha)
• In computer science, α can denote the inverse Ackermann function.
• Alpha particles
• H-alpha, or H-α, an emission line created by hydrogen atoms.
• α , in Bayer designation the (typically) brightest star in a constellation.

The term alpha is used to refer to or describe a wide variety of things, for example:

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• Alpha is often used as an adjective to indicate the first or most significant occurrence of something, as in alpha male or alpha version.
• The letter A in the NATO phonetic alphabet is spelled Alfa to conform to its spelling in most other European languages.
• A male in police CB code. (Delta represents a female)
• In sociobiology when describing a dominance hierarchy in a group like a wolf pack or amongst chimpanzees, the highest ranking creatures are the "Alpha male" and "Alpha female"; this is the individual in a community to whom the others defer (coversely, Omega refers to the lowest rank).
• Alpha is used in the Christian New Testament to refer to God as the beginning of all things. See Revelations 1:8, 21:6, 22:13.
• Alpha has been considered a name for the International Space Station.
• Alpha, Michigan
• Alpha, Minnesota
• Alpha, New Jersey
• Alpha is also the highest and most intelligent caste in Aldous Huxley's dystopic satire, Brave New World.
• Moonbase Alpha was the primary setting for the fictional television series '.
• ARC Trooper A-17 from Star Wars, who was nicknamed Alpha
• The nickname of the Power Rangers character, Alpha 5/Alpha 6/Alpha 7.
• Alpha (computer) - a fictional computer in Mike Walker's radio play Alpha.
• ' is a name of the first cards set.
• Alpha, a British electronic music group.
• alpha geek - a slang term based on the above, referring to any person considered pre-eminent amongst geeks, such as Linus Torvalds.
• alpha version or alpha release - the first release of a computer program or other product, likely to be very unstable but useful for demonstrating internally and to select customers.

Alpha may also be used in:

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• Alpha channel - a transparency information layer to supplement the three RGB color layers to make the RGBA color space.
• Alpha course, a course in Christianity
• Alpha squad, a Russian special unit
• Alpha TV - a Greek terrestrial channel
• Alpha TV Gujarati - a Gujarati language channel in India.
• Alpha waves recorded by electroencephalography
• In electrical engineering and electronics, the Greek letter α is often used to refer to the ratio of DC collector current to DC emitter current of a bipolar junction transistor.
• In electrical engineering and electromagnetic theory, the Greek letter α is often used to refer to the attenuation constant of an electromagnetic wave propagating through a specific medium.
• Cronbach's alpha - a statistical measure of reliability.
• DEC Alpha, a microprocessor from DEC.