Nabla symbol | Triangle symbol math
Nablasymbol"∇"usedinmathematicsandengineeringtoindicatethedeloperatorThisarticleisaboutthesymbol.Forthemathematicaloperatornotatedwithit,seeDel.ThenablaisatriangularsymbolresemblinganinvertedGreekdelta:[1]∇{displaystyleabla}or∇.Thenamecomes,byreasonofthesymbolsshape,fromtheHellenisticGreekwordνάβλαforaPhoenicianharp,[2][3]andwassuggestedbytheencyclopedistWilliamRobertsonSmithtoPeterGuthrieTaitincorrespondence.[2][4][5][6][7]ThenablasymbolisavailableinstandardHTMLas∇andinLaTeXasabla...
Nabla symbol "∇" used in mathematics and engineering to indicate the del operator
This article is about the symbol. For the mathematical operator notated with it, see Del.The nabla is a triangular symbol resembling an inverted Greek delta:[1]∇{displaystyle abla } or ∇. The name comes, by reason of the symbols shape, from the Hellenistic Greek word νάβλα for a Phoenician harp,[2][3] and was suggested by the encyclopedist William Robertson Smith to Peter Guthrie Tait in correspondence.[2][4][5][6][7]
The nabla symbol is available in standard HTML as ∇ and in LaTeX as abla. In Unicode, it is the character at code point U+2207, or 8711 in decimal notation, in the Mathematical Operators block.
It is also called del.
History[edit] The harp, the instrument after which the nabla symbol is namedThe differential operator given in Cartesian coordinates {x,y,z}{displaystyle {x,y,z}} on three-dimensional Euclidean space by
i∂∂x+j∂∂y+k∂∂z{d...