TeXipedia

kappa

Represents the lowercase Greek letter used commonly in mathematics, physics, and statistics to denote various coefficients and parameters.

Overview

A versatile Greek letter that appears frequently across scientific disciplines and mathematical notation:

  • Often denotes the curvature of curves or surfaces in differential geometry
  • Used to represent thermal conductivity in physics and engineering
  • Appears in statistics for measuring inter-rater reliability (Cohen's kappa)
  • Common in chemistry to indicate binding constants
  • Serves as a standard parameter in various mathematical equations and formulas where Greek letters are conventional notation

Examples

Defining thermal conductivity in heat transfer equations.

q=−κdTdxq = -\kappa \frac{dT}{dx} 
q = -\kappa \frac{dT}{dx}

Expressing the von Kármán constant in fluid dynamics.

κ≈0.41\kappa \approx 0.41 
\kappa \approx 0.41

Showing the curvature parameter in differential geometry.

κ(s)=∣r′(s)×r′′(s)∣∣r′(s)∣3\kappa(s) = \frac{|\mathbf{r}'(s) \times \mathbf{r}''(s)|}{|\mathbf{r}'(s)|^3} 
\kappa(s) = \frac{|\mathbf{r}'(s) \times \mathbf{r}''(s)|}{|\mathbf{r}'(s)|^3}