Torque Torque Torque, moment, or moment of force is the rotational equivalent of linear force. The concept originated with the studies of Archimedes on the usage of levers. Just as a linear force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object. The symbol for torque is typically formula_1, the lowercase Greek letter "tau". When being referred to as moment of force, it is commonly denoted by "M". In three dimensions, the torque is a pseudovector; for point particles, it is given by the cross product of the position vector (distance vector)
Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering Greek letters are used in mathematics, science, engineering, and other areas where mathematical notation is used as symbols for constants, special functions, and also conventionally for variables representing certain quantities. In these contexts, the capital letters and the small letters represent distinct and unrelated entities. Those Greek letters which have the same form as Latin letters are rarely used: capital A, B, E, Z, H, I, K, M, N, O, P, T, Y, X. Small ι, ο and υ are also rarely used, since they closely resemble the Latin letters i, o