# [texhax] Defining math operator with í in its text

Eduardo M KALINOWSKI eduardo at kalinowski.com.br
Sat Jan 23 13:43:38 CET 2010

     In Portuguese, the operators "min" and "max" should actually be
written "mín" and "máx" because the full words have accents in those
letters. So I redefine them with something like

\renewcommand{\max}{\mathop{\operator at font m\acute{a}x}}

And for max everything works.

However, for min a problem arises. I cannot use \acute{i} because that
puts the accent over the dot and the result is very ugly. Using
\acute{\i} triggers the warning "Command \i invalid in math mode" and I
get an accented german sharp-s. \imath instead of \i also does not work,
because I get an italic i.

Using m\'{\i}n or just mín I get the expected result. However, in my
document I get a warning "Command \' invalid in math mode" is issued. It
seems to be harmless, but I'd like to eliminate the warning if possible.
In the minimal document below, it became an error.

One way to avoid that is using

\renewcommand{\min}{\mathop{\operator at font \text{mín}}}

But it seems somewhat hackish, so I wonder if there is a better solution.

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\min}{\mathop{\operator at font m\'{\i}n}}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

$\min$

\end{document}

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Eduardo M KALINOWSKI
eduardo at kalinowski.com.br