[texhax] Strange behavior of \mathop

[Vladimir Lomov]

** Michael Barr [2010-11-09 08:42:28 -0500]:

> I was vaguely aware that \mathop sometimes lowers its argumet, but I
> was unprepared for this.  Look at the following two, nearly
> identical files, paying close attention to the vertical placement of
> the bold "E"s.
> 
> \documentclass[12pt]{article}
> \def\E{\mathop{\bf E}}
> \begin{document}
> $x\E y$ $x\E y$
> \end{document}
> 
> \documentclass[12pt]{article}
> \def\E{\mathop{\bf E}}
> \begin{document}
> $xE y$ $x\E(S)y$
> \end{document}
Though I don't know the cause of this 'strange behavior' but is you
change you definition of '\E' then you get always 'lower' variant. Cp.

\newcommand\E{\mathop{\mathbf{E}}}

IMHO this variant is more LaTeXish so either this behavior is correct or
only the first one (in your example) is correct.

(side note: I thing you miss '\' in second example in  front of E).

---
WBR, Vladimir Lomov

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