Is there any meaningful difference between $\phi$ and $\varphi$?

Question

Are $\phi$ and $\varphi$ characters that symbolise the same thing, and have variations only for stylistic purposes, or do the represent distinct characters?

these are two different ways to write the same Greek letter, much as there are two different ways to write a lowercase $a$. — hunter, Dec 17 '23 at 20:08

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 17 '23 at 20:24

The difference is only typographic, but some times this is used denote different things with each one. For example, the Euler totient function almost always is denoted by $\varphi$, the same happen when used to denote homomorphisms in Abstract Algebra, but for the golden ratio there's no convention so it's not unusual to find $\phi$ and $\varphi$.

Is there any meaningful difference between $\phi$ and $\varphi$?

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