diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 02d4f00..e911c0d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
-dev = ["pytest>=8.0", "ruff>=0.5", "mypy>=1.10"]
+dev = ["pytest>=8.0", "ruff>=0.5,<0.16", "mypy>=1.10"]
 
 [build-system]
 requires = ["hatchling"]
diff --git a/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py b/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
index 1314803..07fcbd4 100644
--- a/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
+++ b/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
@@ -130,9 +130,12 @@ def _maybe_unbox(segment: str) -> str:
     return boxed if boxed is not None else ""
 
 
-#: Surrounding punctuation stripped from a token, EXCLUDING the signs ``+``/``-`` — a
-#: leading sign is part of a number's value, not wrapping noise.
-_STRIP_EDGE = "".join(c for c in string.punctuation if c not in "+-")
+#: Surrounding punctuation stripped from a token, EXCLUDING the signs ``+``/``-`` and
+#: the decimal point ``.`` — a leading sign or decimal point is part of a number's
+#: value, not wrapping noise. A genuinely-trailing ``.`` (sentence period) is handled
+#: by the dedicated rstrip retry in :func:`_normalize_token`, which can tell it apart
+#: from a value-bearing leading point; a blanket edge-strip cannot.
+_STRIP_EDGE = "".join(c for c in string.punctuation if c not in "+-.")
 
 
 def _normalize_token(raw: str) -> str:
@@ -147,20 +150,27 @@ def _normalize_token(raw: str) -> str:
     dropped the ``-`` and left commas to break ``float()``) did not deliver.
 
     A token that is ALREADY a number is recognised before any punctuation is
-    stripped: the edge-strip set includes ``.``, so a leading-decimal token like
-    ``".5"`` would otherwise lose its point and normalize to ``"5.0"`` — equal to
-    a gold ``"5"`` (false positive) and unequal to the value-identical gold
-    ``"0.5"`` (false negative). The official DROP ``_remove_punc`` tests
-    ``_is_number`` first and leaves numbers untouched for exactly this reason."""
+    stripped: a leading-decimal token like ``".5"`` must not lose its point and
+    normalize to ``"5.0"`` — equal to a gold ``"5"`` (false positive) and unequal
+    to the value-identical gold ``"0.5"`` (false negative). The official DROP
+    ``_remove_punc`` tests ``_is_number`` first and leaves numbers untouched for
+    exactly this reason (issue #423). The float-first path alone only covers the
+    *bare* token: with ``.`` in the edge-strip set, wrapped forms like ``"$.5"``
+    and ``".5."`` still lost the leading point on the second-chance path. So the
+    edge strip excludes ``.`` entirely, and a genuinely-trailing period (``".5."``,
+    ``"16.."``) is retried with an explicit ``rstrip(".")`` — right-side dots are
+    sentence punctuation, left-side dots are value."""
     try:
         return str(float(raw.replace(",", "")))
     except ValueError:
         pass
     core = raw.strip(_STRIP_EDGE)
-    try:
-        return str(float(core.replace(",", "")))
-    except ValueError:
-        return _PUNCT.sub("", raw)
+    for cand in (core, core.rstrip(".")):
+        try:
+            return str(float(cand.replace(",", "")))
+        except ValueError:
+            continue
+    return _PUNCT.sub("", raw)
 
 
 def _split_internal_hyphens(token: str) -> list[str]:
diff --git a/src/trinity/orchestration/reward.py b/src/trinity/orchestration/reward.py
index 7192ef8..fc3ed84 100644
--- a/src/trinity/orchestration/reward.py
+++ b/src/trinity/orchestration/reward.py
@@ -842,6 +842,23 @@ def normalize_math_answer(ans: str | None) -> str:
     # (the product symbol) is intentionally left untouched.
     s = re.sub(r"\\pi(?![a-zA-Z])", "pi", s)
     s = s.replace("π", "pi")
+    # Common Greek letters: LaTeX command and Unicode glyph → same ascii token
+    # (same contract as pi; issue #498).
+    for latex, uni, tok in (
+        ("alpha", "α", "alpha"),
+        ("beta", "β", "beta"),
+        ("gamma", "γ", "gamma"),
+        ("delta", "δ", "delta"),
+        ("theta", "θ", "theta"),
+        ("lambda", "λ", "lambda"),
+        ("mu", "μ", "mu"),
+        ("sigma", "σ", "sigma"),
+        ("phi", "φ", "phi"),
+        ("varphi", "ϕ", "phi"),
+        ("omega", "ω", "omega"),
+    ):
+        s = __import__("re").sub(rf"\\{latex}(?![a-zA-Z])", tok, s)
+        s = s.replace(uni, tok)
     # The fraction normalizer wraps arbitrary operands, so ``\frac{\pi}{2}``
     # becomes ``(pi)/(2)`` while ``\pi/2`` becomes ``pi/2``. Remove only
     # standalone atomic operands adjacent to division — including a lone
diff --git a/tests/test_reward_greek_unicode.py b/tests/test_reward_greek_unicode.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..164562e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_reward_greek_unicode.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+"""Unicode Greek letters must equal LaTeX spellings (issue #498)."""
+
+from trinity.orchestration.reward import math_equal, normalize_math_answer, score_text
+
+
+def test_theta_latex_equals_unicode():
+    assert normalize_math_answer(r"2\theta") == normalize_math_answer("2θ")
+    assert math_equal(r"2\theta", "2θ")
+    assert score_text("math500", r"\boxed{2\theta}", "2θ") == 1.0
+
+
+def test_alpha_phi():
+    assert math_equal(r"\alpha", "α")
+    assert math_equal(r"\phi", "φ")
+    assert score_text("math500", r"\boxed{\alpha}", "α") == 1.0
+
+
+def test_wrong_greek_still_fails():
+    assert score_text("math500", r"\boxed{\theta}", "α") == 0.0