vertical square root upstroke (instead of having a slant)
With the following minimal file on MkIV (2013.05.28 00:36 MKIV current), the upstroke of the square root is vertical instead of having the usual slant toward the right. With MkII it has the usual slant. I see this problem only with certain arrangements of variables (that recur often in my book chapter on springs and piano strings). For example, it goes away after changing the "\rho" to a "b". \starttext \startformula \sqrt{Tb^2\over \rho}. \stopformula \stoptext I know that the big math symbols are constructed differently in MkIV and MkII. Does the example above show an intended difference? -- -Sanjoy
On 12/1/2013 8:57 PM, Sanjoy Mahajan wrote:
With the following minimal file on MkIV (2013.05.28 00:36 MKIV current), the upstroke of the square root is vertical instead of having the usual slant toward the right. With MkII it has the usual slant.
I see this problem only with certain arrangements of variables (that recur often in my book chapter on springs and piano strings). For example, it goes away after changing the "\rho" to a "b".
\starttext \startformula \sqrt{Tb^2\over \rho}. \stopformula \stoptext
I know that the big math symbols are constructed differently in MkIV and MkII. Does the example above show an intended difference?
a radical has a couple of increasing sizes (discrete steps, if they have a slant depends of the font designer) before it switches to an extensible that then normally has no slant (in context one can hook in a mp variant that keeps the slant) (if needed we can make it an option to omit steps and always use upright) Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------
a radical has a couple of increasing sizes (discrete steps, if they have a slant depends of the font designer) before it switches to an extensible that then normally has no slant
Interesting. That explains the difference: The \rho made the radical big enough to switch to the extensible, unslanted version.
(in context one can hook in a mp variant that keeps the slant) (if needed we can make it an option to omit steps and always use upright)
My math-typography sense is far from developed, and mostly comes from having read lots of math books. With that caveat, my gut feelings are that (1) the switch from slant to upright is a bit surprising for a reader, and (2) that the slant version is more common, so an always-upright radical would also be a bit surprising. But perhaps you or others with a more developed typographical eye have a more principled way of judging? -Sanjoy
participants (2)
-
Hans Hagen -
Sanjoy Mahajan