béta

Bèta is the name used in some languages for the second letter of the Greek alphabet, and is also written and pronounced as beta in English. The symbol is β in lowercase and Β in uppercase. The name originates from Greek beta (βήτα). In Modern Greek the letter is pronounced vita, reflecting a phonetic shift from b to v.

In science and technology, the term beta appears in several related ways. In software development, a beta release is a version of a program distributed to selected users for testing ahead of the final product. In radiation physics, beta refers to beta radiation, consisting of beta particles (electrons or positrons) emitted by radioactive decay. In statistics, the Beta distribution is a family of continuous probability distributions on the interval 0 to 1, characterized by two shape parameters; the Beta function is an associated integral. In finance, beta is a measure of a security's sensitivity to overall market movements, used to gauge systemic risk.

Orthography: In certain languages with diacritics, the name can appear as bèta, with a grave accent on the e, reflecting local spelling conventions. The concept of beta also extends into terminology such as beta testing, beta versions of products, and various scientific constants and models that carry the Greek letter as a symbol.