Omega
Omega (Ω ω) is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system it had a value of 800. The word literally means "big O" (omega), as opposed to Omicron, which means "little O" (omicron).[1]
Omega is often used to denote the last, the end, or the ultimate limit of a set, in contrast to Alpha, the first letter of the Greek Alphabet. Jesus declares himself to be the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Revelation 22:13, KJV, and see also 1:8).
Omega has been used as the name for a wide variety of other things, for example:
- In a wolf pack, the Omega is the lowest rank (the highest being the "Alpha male" and "Alpha female");
- In set theory, Omega is the symbol for infinity;
- Omega is a Swiss watch company;
- Omega is the name of the free 16-Bit (Unicode) version of the typesetting system TeX ([2]);
- A Roguelike game ([3]);
- A fatty acid: Omega-3 fatty acid;
- Omega is a fictional character from the television program Doctor Who;
- Omega is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on Doctor Who;
- Omega is a fictional chemical substance from the television program Star Trek: Voyager;
- A line of Omega and Omegaflex roll film cameras;
- Omega was the first worldwide radio navigation system;
- "Omega and the Mechanical Animals" was an incarnation of Marilyn Manson's stage persona during the tour supporting his Mechanical Animals album.
- Omega is a Hungarian rock band;
- An optional 'superboss' present near the end of Final Fantasy V. Also a high-level mission boss in Final Fantasy XI;
- One of the many names used to describe Zero of the Mega Man X series, also the name for the original body of Zero seen in the Mega Man Zero series.
- The Omega Man is a 1971 film starring Charleton Heston
The upper-case letter Ω is used as a symbol:
- For Ohm - SI unit of electrical resistance;
- In computer science, in notation related to Big O notation to describe the asymptotic behavior of functions. See also Chaitin's constant;
- Codex Athous Dionysii, an 8th/9th century uncial Greek manuscript of the Gospels on Mount Athos;
- Omega Point, a theory about computing at the end of the universe;
- In mathematics, the first uncountable ordinal number;
- Also in mathematics, the Omega constant;
- Naoki Maeda's pseudonym for the Dance Dance Revolution song "MAX 300";
- In combinatory logic, the looping combinator, (λ x. x x)(λ x. x x).
The lower-case letter ω is used as a symbol:
- In textual criticism, the archetype of a manuscript tradition;
- In physics, angular velocity;
- In mathematics, the first transfinite ordinal number;
- In combinatory logic, the self-application combinator, (λ x. x x);
- In Astronomy, as a ranking of a star's brightness.