0

When referring the more than one alpha, is the correct spelling αs or α-s?

fbence
  • 111
  • What has your research told you? And what remains unclear to you? Have you found any indication anywhere that hyphens are ever used to form plurals anywhere? – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 31 '18 at 18:10
  • What's the context? Are you literally talking about the Greek letter alpha (in a sentence like, "The Greek word for 'wood' contains two alphas"), or are you talking about something commonly denoted with that letter (in a sentence like, "The two wheels have the same angular velocity at time zero, but different angular accelerations")? – ruakh Jan 31 '18 at 18:13
  • My research told me, that I am unable to formulate a relevant google search about this question. I found some examples where NOT to use a hyphen, but they didn't cover this specific case of trying to put a symbol into plural. – fbence Jan 31 '18 at 18:13
  • @ruakh The latter. – fbence Jan 31 '18 at 18:16
  • 3
    α-s strikes me as blindingly unlikely. The choice between αs and α's is essentially a matter of personal preference and/or your chosen style guide, but I'd certainly use an apostrophe in this specific case, to avoid confusion with as (depending on what typeface you're using, and how sharp-eyed you expect your reader to be). But I don't normally include that apostrophe in things like the early 1900s, or CDs and DVDs. – FumbleFingers Jan 31 '18 at 18:26
  • My personal preference is to try to avoid the need in the first place - "The Greek word for 'wood' contains two alphas (α)." – Jeff Zeitlin Jan 31 '18 at 18:28
  • 2
    I would second Jeff Zeitlin and also follow ruakh's tack. If you're talking about the letter, say "alphas", and in a technical context where it might need to be distinguished from capital Alpha, just talk directly about e.g. "angular accelerations" instead of the variable name. If you're having such a hard time deciding how to pluralize that you ask StackExchange instead of just choosing one or the other, you seem to acknowledge that the notation is confusing. Instead of looking for the "correct" single-letter plural, just sidestep the issue, because it could confuse your reader too. – endemic Jan 31 '18 at 19:08

0 Answers0