Half-Life symbol

[Nodbugger]

What is it exactly, the A shaped thing. Ive heard an explanation before, involving a nuclear reactor name. But I can't find where I read it. Anyone know?

 

[The Dark Elf]

You mean the Lambda symbol?

 

[Nodbugger]

You mean the Lambda symbol?

yes thats it, the symbol we use for wavelength. I just forgot what it was called, thanks. I was trying to remember it today for a class but I forgot the name.

 

[pk1209]

half life is the time it takes for a radioactive isotope to reduce in radioactivity by half....

oh and thats the symbol you use to show it when being lazy and not writing half life. eg. (symbol) = 5 days...

 

[theotherguy]

yes, it is the symbol for wavelenghth, and gay pride, but it is more commonly known as the greek letter "L"

 

[Gurph]

the lamda is the symbol for gay pride????!!! where did u find that out?
:angel:

 

[Lavrik]

I think i see why Gordon and alyx won't have sex during the game........
Im joking! I hope what i said isnt true...

 

[bgesley426]

the gay pride symbol is an upside down triangle... and the color is purple. Its not Lambda

 

[jimbones]

LOL
I always thought gaypride would have a more sexual logo..

 

[Sandman]

Don't forget that Lambda is a letter in the Greek alphabet.

edit: bah... someone else got it first :-P

 

[Jackal hit]

both that triangle and the lambda are gay community things... there's more than just one symbol.. i mean... isn't the triangle supposed to be pink, but the gay "color" is purple? (i used to live in the city with the second largest per capita gay population)

 

[bgesley426]

I live across the bay from San Francisco, does that count?

plus if you think about it the upside down triangle does look to have a sexual conotation. (think female). I lived here my whole life and never heard that Lambda was a gay pride symbol. Is it really?

 

[jimbones]

dunno.. but the lambda hereby now is the official half-life-pride logo. Bam!
the upside down triangle would kinda discriminate the males ...

 

[jimbones]

i have my coming out: I am eagerly awaiting half-life 2 ...

 

[Incitatus]

No Greek in high school I guess

Lambda is a greek letter pronounced like the english 'L'

I assume it still exists in modern Greek, the (very) little bit of the language I know is classical Greek.

 

[ravioli2]

In greek íts mean a A i think. A friend told me. I dont think its a radioactive logo, Biohazard has that black and yellow mark.

 

[PvtRyan]

In greek íts mean a A i think. A friend told me. I dont think its a radioactive logo, Biohazard has that black and yellow mark.

Lol, first of all, A in Greek is alpha, the symbol for it looks like the fish christians use to display their believes but only narrower. And Lambda is a symbol for wavelength and half-life of an isotope.

 

[jimbones]

plus the biohazardlogo doesn't have that black and yellow mark. thats the sign for radioactivity..

 

[Incitatus]

No Greek in high school I guess

Lambda is a greek letter pronounced like the english 'L'

I assume it still exists in modern Greek, the (very) little bit of the language I know is classical Greek.

I'm beginning to think my posts are getting systematically ignored.

How can you say it's an A (ravioli) after I told you it's an L.

an 'a' is exactly like pvtRyan says

 

[NC|7]

If you desect the hl symbol well enough you will get the story for the whole hl franchise including hl2 ;<)

 

[RandomPING]

I'm beginning to think my posts are getting systematically ignored.

How can you say it's an A (ravioli) after I told you it's an L.

an 'a' is exactly like pvtRyan says

Yea i love reading a thread and seeing someone answer a question, then two posts later someone asks it again in a slightly different way.

I wonder what community has more fans, the HL2 Community or the Gay Community. And how many overlap.

 

[Sandman]

If you desect the hl symbol well enough you will get the story for the whole hl franchise including hl2 ;<)

*Dr. Evil* Riiiiiiiight....

 

[Rexz]

There's a small round black sticker with a white lambda symbol in its centre stuck on a green traffic light near where I live. I've always wondered if a HL fan put it there.

 

[ComradeBadger]

half life is the time it takes for a radioactive isotope to reduce in radioactivity by half....

oh and thats the symbol you use to show it when being lazy and not writing half life. eg. (symbol) = 5 days...

Not, it's not.

Lambda is the symbol for Decay constant. I think you'll find Half Life is a 't' with a subscript 1/2

It's also the greek letter L

Hope that clears it all up.

 

[Revisedsoul]

yeah you got it badger.

also can be displayed as 2LogT(i think) for all those math junkies

Edit:
but to determin the anything with half life is

something like, but not completely certain, been 2 years since math classes

x = y(T superscript a/b)

where x is the remaining amout of the radioactive product.
y and b is the starting amout
t is the elapsed time
a is the amout of time it takes to complete cycle of hl

im pretty sure im wrong on some parts, but oh well, not like any fo you are going to use it

 

[Letters]

There's a small round black sticker with a white lambda symbol in its centre stuck on a green traffic light near where I live. I've always wondered if a HL fan put it there.

I'd wonder if I'd be getting exposed to radiation each and every time I pass it as well... :cheese:

 

[IchI]

so many people have the lau7ghing man symbol now on these forums

 

[PXM5000]

Wow, all this fighting over a letter!

 

[Ownzed]

I thought it was an H and an L put together in one if you look at it. H for Half and L for Life.

 

[NC|7]

I thought it was an H and an L put together in one if you look at it. H for Half and L for Life.

It is an H+L in a circle but it is also a greek symbol, its soooo deep . . . .

 

[CSDEKS]

Lambda actualy using in Physic!

 

[PvtRyan]

Lambda actualy using in Physic!

Thanks for sharing this enlightening new information with us. It's not that we found out about that on page one.

 

[HybridM]

Some people need to get out more...

they probably just thought: "This symbol is vaguely scientific in nature, and it looks cool so I'll use it on my game."

 

[beast]

So hλlf life is gay right?

 

[PXM5000]

Lambda actualy using in Physic!

Also in chemistry

 

[ComradeBadger]

Some people need to get out more...

they probably just thought: "This symbol is vaguely scientific in nature, and it looks cool so I'll use it on my game."

?

Right... I just happen to be studying Advanced Subsidery level Physics, and decided to clear things up. It is no coincidence that it's there. Anyway, it always makes me smile when a forumite tells others to get out more

 

[PvtRyan]

Some people need to get out more...

they probably just thought: "This symbol is vaguely scientific in nature, and it looks cool so I'll use it on my game."

Actually, no. HL uses a lot of references to scientific terms. Take for example the expansion names: Opposing Force (physics term, altough I'm not sure what it's used for, Newtons laws?) and Blue Shift (used in astronomy)
It's no coincidence that the symbol is Lamda, everything about the game is pretty much science related. The Half-Life (constant for radioactive decay) too.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Blue shift is the opposite of Red Shift, and it's todo with the theory that the universe is contracting or expanding

Opposing Force is a term used in physics, I believe it is related to Newton's third law pairs.

 

[arcturus]

HL uses a lot of references to scientific terms.

It's sounds logical, the main character is a scientist, and the action of the game stands in a scientific complex, and the plot concerns scientific technologies...

In addition, the "half-life game" symbol is the lowercase greek letter "Lambda" (which is the "L" in latin scripture). The symbol of the capital letter lambda is an isometric triangle (with an angle in the top).

I think that the pink "upside down" triangle was used as a symbol of discrimination by the german nazis against the homosexual persons during WWII. I don't know if it is used nowadays by gay community...

:farmer:

 

[HybridM]

Take for example the expansion names: Opposing Force (physics term, altough I'm not sure what it's used for, Newtons laws?)

You could also take that literally to mean any one of the sides involved in half-life gordon/army/aliens.

My point was the symbol is related to the subject matter, I never doubted that, but it's not important.