Nu in LaTeX (\nu)

Where it is used

Lowercase Greek nu, used for frequency, degrees of freedom, and kinematic viscosity.

Physics writes photon energy as E = h\nu, where \nu is frequency, and fluid dynamics uses \nu for kinematic viscosity. Statistics uses \nu for degrees of freedom in Student's t distribution, and particle physics writes neutrinos as \nu_e, \nu_\mu. Relativity uses Greek indices \mu\nu for tensor components, as in g_{\mu\nu}. In many fonts \nu looks very similar to the Latin v, so avoid using both letters in the same formula. There is no \Nu command; capital nu is Latin N.

Minimal compilable example

Paste this into an empty .tex file and compile it with pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Nu: $\nu$

\[ E = h\nu, \quad t_{\nu} = \frac{\bar{x} - \mu}{s/\sqrt{n}} \]
\end{document}

Related symbols

• Xi\xi
• Mu\mu
• Xi (Upper)\Xi
• Lambda (Upper)\Lambda
• Pi\pi
• Lambda\lambda

Frequently asked questions

How do I write Nu in LaTeX?

Type \nu in math mode, for example $E = h\nu, \quad t_{\nu} = \frac{\bar{x} - \mu}{s/\sqrt{n}}$. It works in plain LaTeX without loading any package.

Which package do I need for \nu?

None. \nu is part of standard LaTeX, so it compiles with nothing in the preamble but the document class.

Can I use \nu in text mode, or only in math mode?

Only in math mode. Outside $...$ LaTeX stops with "Missing $ inserted", so write $\nu$ in running text. If you only need the glyph in text, paste the Unicode character ν instead (with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX and a font that has it).