Some examples:
a for area,
b for breadth,
c for circle or curve,
d for diameter or depth or dimension,
f for foci,
l for length or line,
m for modulus (= slope),
r for radius,
v for volume,
w for width,
x for horizontal coordinate,
y for vertical coordinate,
z for third orthogonal coordinate in 3-d geometry.
and finally, pi for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Chat with our AI personalities
Algebra geometry
The symbol for representing the period of a wave is the greek letter lambda (λ).
X and y
"why" is not a mathematical symbol.
The ancient Greeks did the original work of inventing geometry as we know it, and pi is a letter in the Greek alphabet, so it was a convenient symbol for them to use.