What does Starfleet symbol represent???
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Assuming you mean the delta shield, I think it's just a stylistic image meant to convey the impression of reaching for the stars.
A lonnngg time ago, one of the novels attempted to give it a scientific basis, that the curves on the top and bottom relate to the power required to generate a warp field. It rises as you approach the speed of light, then falls off when the field is generated, or something like that.
Which novel was that? Federation, maybe? Or Enterprise: The First Adventure? Not sure.
A lonnngg time ago, one of the novels attempted to give it a scientific basis, that the curves on the top and bottom relate to the power required to generate a warp field. It rises as you approach the speed of light, then falls off when the field is generated, or something like that.
Which novel was that? Federation, maybe? Or Enterprise: The First Adventure? Not sure.
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I think that came into being in ST:TMP. Prior to that, it was just the shield on the Enterprise officers' uniforms.
For TMP, they went with the utilitarian grey footie pajama uniforms, and the departmental colors, which previously had been on the shirts, were indicated by a colored background circle on their delta shield.
After that, the circle just stuck. It was included on the chest pins for the later TOS movies, and on the TNG communicators, etc. As a bit of retroactive continuity, the broken belt buckle Khan wore as a pendant had a circle around it, implying that it was there in the original series, though it wasn't.
For TMP, they went with the utilitarian grey footie pajama uniforms, and the departmental colors, which previously had been on the shirts, were indicated by a colored background circle on their delta shield.
After that, the circle just stuck. It was included on the chest pins for the later TOS movies, and on the TNG communicators, etc. As a bit of retroactive continuity, the broken belt buckle Khan wore as a pendant had a circle around it, implying that it was there in the original series, though it wasn't.
It was one of those Retro stroies. Like the Eugenics War two parter. That scene was back in the past talking about Warp theory. The star in the middle represented the light barrier. The top part of the triangle was one power curve and the bottom part was the other power curve. Both parts dropped off as they past the light barrier.
Nonsense. As if EVERYTHING has to be explained and nothing can "just be" or exist simply from a design standpoint.
Might have been Federation. There was even a picture of the drawing in the book.
Or, he was wearing Marla's broken Starfleet graduation medal, which is about the size of the latter movies' metal belt buckles.
I think that's the only adult Star Trek book with pictures. 
There was one written by J.M. Dillard that had a picture in it, a Vulcan symbol if I'm not mistaken. I have the book stored away somewhere. When I went to get her to autograph the book, she flipped to that page and found the symbol missing. She told me that some number of printing runs were missing the symbol. So she proceeded to hand-draw it in my book. 
Gack. I vastly prefer the Federation explanation (though, since everything else about Federation is superior to anything produced by Rick Berman, that isn't surprising).
Using a Voyager storyline to retcon anything in the Trek universe makes me queezy.
That's the best answer I've heard-but in another novel it was explained as a stylized IDIC symbol.
This is one area where ENT properly bridged the gap. Their logo evolved from NASA's logo. I could see that evolving into the StarFleet Delta seen on the side of the ships, also evolving into the uniform delta we saw on TOS.
I also agree with Shawnster that some things don't need a "scientific" explain-away.
I also agree with Shawnster that some things don't need a "scientific" explain-away.
Which one? Every ship had its own insignia through TOS. After that the Enterprise insignia came to symbolize the producers' lack of faith in their audience's intelligence.
That's the one I heard. In eldar days, every ship had its own logo, but after the exploits of Enterprise everybody used the delta. This was celebrated with massive quantities of Romulan ale.
That's all cannon except for the uncannonical parts, which could be cannon in the mirror universe -- except on Tuesday when it's dark.
That's a bit of a stretch, Beaker. But then again, we know how much you hate anything modern, except the Internet!
(Don't get too offended, pal, I kid you!)BTW, using the single symbol for Starfleet definitely started with TWOK, not TNG. As you'll see in that flick, the Reliant crew have the same symbol on their belt buckles and chest badge, as is the case for all the rest of the Starfleet personnel we see in all the other TOS movies.
You can't quite make the same argument for TMP, because the space station personnel have a stylized uniform patch/badge. However, Kirk as Admiral has the Enterprise delta -- maybe because it's under his purview? Can be an inconsistency.
Real-world, it's probably cheaper to have a single symbol representing Starfleet. I think it's elegant, and hell, it's also easier on the wardrobe department to have the same kind of symbol for guest stars and cast members alike.
As a few have noted, the delta shield symbol was supposed to represent warp drive in the novel Federation. I kind of like how they tried to explain it in a novel. But they've never assigned that meaning to it in any of the series -- it's just Starfleet's symbol. Which is as it should be.
One final note: there is one TOS ep where other Starfleet members do not have stylized assignment patches, but it's not clear if they're Enterprise crew members or from other ships -- from the dialogue, it seems they're from different ships, laying over at Starbase 11. That's the scene from Court Martial, where several Starleet personnel make disapproving comments about Kirk because the rumor is out that he let their friend, Ben Finney, die.
Red Ranger
Really? Taking a look at the screencaps on TrekCore, it looks like the space station people have the delta as well.
He means Epsilon Nine. Note the different chest patch.
Really? Taking a look at the screencaps on TrekCore, it looks like the space station people have the delta as well.
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