Thread by @bencbartlett

The English alphabet, according to physics:

A: surface area, generic linear operator, sometimes denotes unrealistic academic goals

a: acceleration, annihilation operator, sometimes a length

a,b,c,d: common coefficients

B: magnetic field, the grade you'll settle for

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🅱️: magnetic field if you're into memes

C: integration constant

c: speed of light

D: differential operator, often the average grade in a class

d: by itself usually distance, next to another letter represents infinitesimal change (dx)

E: electric field, energy, expected value

e: Euler's number, sometimes charge of the electron or basis vector

F: force, sometimes used to pay respects after getting bodied by a hard problem

f,g,h: generally used as functions

G: gravitational constant, Einstein's tensor if it has indices, Green's function

g: gravitational field, esp. Earth's surface gravity

H: auxiliary magnetic field, Hamiltonian

h: Planck's constant, height

I: current, moment of inertia

i: √(-1)

i,j,k: often used together as indices, unit vectors in 3D

j: current √(-1) if you're an absolute heathen 😡

k: Boltzmann constant, wavevector, sometimes a constant, denotes the correct response when people say math is boring

L: angular momemtum, Lagrangian, sometimes used as a specific length

l: length

l,m,n: often used together as indices

M: magnetization, mass

m: mass

N, n: almost exclusively used to represent things which are integers (n-tegers!)

O: denotes the origin, sometimes big O notation for error of approximations

P: power, pressure

p: momentum, point on a graph, dipole moment

p,q: sometimes used together as probabilities or primes

q: electric charge

R: electrical resistance

r: radius, position if it is a vector

S: entropy, spin operator, integration surface, sometimes used to denote sneks

s: sometimes used as a parameterization variable

T: temperature, period

t: time

U: potential energy, unitary operator, often used after the "no, " operator

V: electrical potential

v: velocity, sometimes used informally as speed

W: energy, work, integration volume

w: width, fourth spatial dimension if used with x,y,z

x: position, go-to general-purpose variable, is famous

x,y,z: axis names and unit vectors in 3D

Y: used together with l and m to make physics students' lives miserable

Z: partition function, atomic number, impedance

z: usually used as a complex variable