Beta

Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. Its name comes from the Phoenician beth, meaning "house." In Greek numerals, beta has the value 2.

In computing and software development, a beta version is a pre-release intended for testing by external users. It follows an internal alpha phase and precedes a release candidate. Beta releases help identify bugs, assess new features, and gather user feedback before mass distribution.

In finance and investing, beta describes the sensitivity of a security's returns to movements in the overall market. A beta greater than 1 implies higher volatility than the market; a beta less than 1 implies lower volatility. The concept is central to the capital asset pricing model, which uses beta to estimate expected returns.

In science, beta has several uses. In physics, beta radiation consists of beta particles emitted in radioactive decay. In mathematics, the beta function and beta distribution are functions used in probability and statistics. In biology and biochemistry, beta sheets are a common form of protein secondary structure; beta-carotene is a plant pigment and provitamin A.

In linguistics and digital typography, Beta code is a method for encoding Greek letters in ASCII, historically used in ancient Greek texts on computers and databases.