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Discuss Correct symbols for physics notation in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Edtwozeronine

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Our tutor wants us to use what looks like a Beta symbol for Tesla's, but in our official notes from city and guilds they want us to use a capital B.

Another thing that I'm having trouble with is the proportional to symbol. What does it mean mathematically speaking? Is there a button for proportional to on my calculator somewhere?
 
B or β, why does it matter? A hard time telling the difference with my writing :)

What's the question? - It means something is proportional to another. It alters in the same proportion, when one changes so does the other by the same ratio.
So you embarrassment in asking might be said to be proportional to the incredulity of those answering.
(More conventionally is could be used for numbers, so for a piece of wire the resistance increases in proportion to it's length).

No there is no "calculator" button, it would have no sense. I hope that helps.
 
It seems odd that they'd put it on a formula sheet if you can't do anything mathematical with it.

So it just means I should know Tesla's are proportional to Henries. B ∝ H?

I'm looking forward to failing the science part of year 2. At least I'll get a second go innit fam.

 
I'm trying to make notes on my formula sheet so I have some idea what all the symbols mean. Rho, Weber and Tesla being the funkiest looking.

The proportional to symbol almost looks like an infinity symbol as well.
 
what looks like a Beta symbol for Tesla's
The symbol for tesla is T!
I think what you mean is the symbol for magnetic field which is B; as it is a vector it is a letter B in heavy/bold type. It is not the Greek letter Β (beta). B is indeed measured in units of tesla, but you must be careful to distinguish between units and quantities.

The proportionality symbol means exactly what it says; there is a proportionality (fixed ratio) between one variable and another, without having to specify the numerical value of that ratio. If y=2x then y∝x and the constant of proportionality is 2. For example, travelling at constant velocity v, the time t taken to make a journey is proportional to the distance s, so I can say that t∝s without knowing what the actual velocity is. If you know that, you can replace the proportionality symbol with the value.

They've gone and used capital I in italics for Amps. They're a bunch of lunatics on Wikipedia.
No they haven't. The left hand column is for quantities, which for current is I. The right hand column shows the units in which that quantity is measured, which is correctly given as ampere (A).
 
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it was beersoaker :) spelt it wrong first. :(
 
don't worry about him. a banana split has him rolling over. :confused:
 

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