Beta (β) in HTML
Beta is the second Greek letter, written Β and β. The capital is at U+0392 and the small letter at U+03B2.
At a glance
- Character
- Β β
- Named entity
- Β β
- Decimal reference
- Β β
- Hex reference
- Β β
- Unicode code point
- U+0392, U+03B2
- Unicode name
- GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA, GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA
- In the entity reference
- Greek
In detail
The small beta is regularly confused with the German sharp s, the eszett at U+00DF. The two are historically related in some typefaces and are drawn similarly, but they are different letters with different meanings and different sorting behaviour. German text that has been typed with a beta will fail a spellcheck and will not uppercase correctly, since the eszett has an uppercase form and the Greek letter does not map to it.
In regression, beta is the coefficient on a predictor: the change in the outcome associated with a one unit change in that predictor. Standardised betas are reported in units of standard deviations so that predictors on different scales can be compared, which is a different number from the raw coefficient and should be labelled as such.
In finance, beta measures how much an asset moves relative to its market. A value of one means it tracks the market, above one means it amplifies market moves, below one means it dampens them. The same letter, a completely unrelated definition, and a frequent source of confusion when a document mixes statistical and financial modelling.
The capital beta is another Latin lookalike, identical to a capital B. It is almost never needed, since the quantities that use beta use the small letter, so a capital beta in a document is more likely to be a paste error than a deliberate choice.
Examples
<p>The model gives β = 0.42 (SE 0.08, p < 0.001).</p>const greek = "\u03B2"; // GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA
const german = "\u00DF"; // LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S
german.toUpperCase(); // "SS"
greek.toUpperCase(); // the Greek capital, not SSThings that catch people out
- Typing a beta where a German eszett belongs breaks spellchecking, sorting and case conversion, and it is invisible at a glance.
- A standardised beta and an unstandardised coefficient are different numbers reported with the same letter. Label which one a table contains.
- Financial beta and regression beta share nothing but the glyph. In a mixed document, name them.
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Related HTML entities
All html entities →Alpha (α) in HTML
The Greek letter alpha at U+0391 and U+03B1, its entity forms, its meanings in transparency and statistics, and the Latin A it is indistinguishable from.
Gamma (γ) in HTML
The Greek letter gamma at U+0393 and U+03B3, its entity forms, what gamma correction actually encodes, and the gamma function that shares the letter.
Sigma (σ) in HTML
The Greek letter sigma at U+03A3 and U+03C3, its entity forms, the summation operator it is confused with, and the final sigma used at the end of a word.
Delta (δ) in HTML
The Greek letter delta at U+0394 and U+03B4, its entity forms, the increment sign that looks identical, and what a capital delta asserts about a quantity.
Epsilon (ε) in HTML
The Greek letter epsilon at U+0395 and U+03B5, its entity forms, the lunate variant, and what machine epsilon means in floating point comparison.
Theta (θ) in HTML
The Greek letter theta at U+0398 and U+03B8, its entity forms, its role as the default angle variable, and what big theta asserts about an algorithm.
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