The simple truth is that the basic Western character set on computers does not include a character for the Greek letter phi. Is Phi no longer the upright character it once was? Has Phi become an empty shell of its former self? (A little set humor for you mathematicians.) Is Phi leaning to the right in its political orientation? To keep Phi from suffering from an “identity” crisis (a little more math humor), here’s an explanation of what’s going and what you can do to be sure that Phi remains in good standing. When you see Phi on a web site, it often looks like this: When you see the Greek letter Phi on a fraternity or sorority house, it usually looks like this: In the texts of ancient Greece, the letter phi looked like this:
