Symbols and pronunciation

\(\alpha\) — alpha. \(\beta\) — beta. \(\gamma\) — gamma. \(\delta\) — delta. \(\lambda\) — lambda. \(\mu\) — mu. \(\sigma\) — sigma. \(\theta\) — theta.

\(\Delta x\) — “delta x”, a finite change in \(x\).

\(dx\) — “d x”, a differential of \(x\).

\(dy/dx\) — “d y by d x” or “the derivative of y with respect to x”.

\(\partial u/\partial t\) — “partial u by partial t”.

\(\sum\) — sigma or summation. \(\int\) — integral.

\(E[X]\) — “expected value of X”. \(\operatorname{Var}(X)\) — “variance of X”.

\(X\sim N(\mu,\sigma^2)\) — “X is distributed normally with mean mu and variance sigma squared”.

\(\nabla\) — nabla or del. \(\nabla^2\) — Laplacian.

\(\in\) — “is an element of”. \(\approx\) — “approximately equal to”. \(\propto\) — “is proportional to”.