# Re: Mathematica symbol fonts

• To: math-font-discuss@cogs.susx.ac.uk
• Subject: Re: Mathematica symbol fonts
• From: Joerg.Knappen@uni-mainz.de
• Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 12:15:29 +0100

Having printed the mma symbol fonts, I have the following remarks:

a) On integrals:

The mma fonts contain a class of integrals and other big operators larger
than \displaystyle. For a moment I played with the thought of an e-TeX
proposal \bigdisplaystyle (appropriate, if there is a displaystyle fraction
in the argument'' of a big operator) but discarded it soon. The reason
for discarding the thought was, that the argument of a big operator cannot
be detected automatically.

Maybe setting up the integrals as delimiters can make the largest size

b) On bullet-like symbols

There are three sizes of bullet-like symbols (squares, circles) in the mma
fonts. IMHO a good choice, the smallest being appropriate as binary
operators, the largest as miscellanous symbols.

c) A special symbol:

The is a mouth'' like symbol near \approx in the mma fonts, consisting of
smallfrown over smallsmile. What is it used for?

d) \de, \ee, \ie

There are special symbols for the d in differentials, the base of the
natural logarithm and the square root of -1. However, Wolfram's designs are
just plain ugly and not supported anywhere else (mathroman type being the
design of choice).

e) Other

I found the capital Epsilon (like african open E) also in the mma
fonts. Worth considering for the encoding, I think.

--J"org Knappen