can anyone eli5 where does "delta" originate from in math, and why does it mean change?
probably a dumb question, but i've just noticed myself using it, yet never thought about it any further
Discussion
d for difference
i mean the triangle symbol 🤔
The triangle is D in Greek, a country which apparently used to be able to do maths
ah, thank you so much 💜
yes, it means amount of change in a value, used in comparing two values
yeah, but why?
what's the history behind it?
https://www.toppr.com/guides/maths/introduction-to-graphs/delta-symbol/
partly to do with the ancient greeks indeed
pythagoras was one of the early discoverers of algebra, the arabs got to name it though, the lower case of delta, means an angle in euclidian geometry
from teh note about quadratic equations on wikipedia:
Δ is the initial of the Greek word Διακρίνουσα, Diakrínousa, discriminant.
discriminant is the thing that differentiates between two things, the delta of two values is like subtracting one from the other
Well first there was alpha and they were like oh no everyone's going to die
Then like omicron came and delta and purple were still being the hype like when the new iPhone drops. But ya boi rand Paul was like to make it make sense and people staying shortly paying attention