symbol ^ is used as power ( superscript ) in math, how about symbol for subscript?

WAY KYI
WAY KYI Posts: 135
in Type Design Technique & Theory
I know there are Alt+code or code+AltX for these. Some graphics applications have sup/sub button to activate. But I am looking for universal use of symbols for power, subscript, root etc. Thanks
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Best Answer

  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 2,022
    Answer ✓
    For variable names in physics, the underscore feels most intuitive: F_res = ...
    That also matches LaTeX usage.

Answers

  • WAY KYI
    WAY KYI Posts: 135
    For example: 3^2 means 3 to the power 2. So I can write ligature ^2 to substitute Superscript number 2. So I like to know symbols for subscript and root etc. 
  • WAY KYI
    WAY KYI Posts: 135
    Oh, I got it. Thank you very much. So, there is LaTeX font for English and I may have to follow the same syntax for my Language. Thanks a lot. 

    By the way, which LaTeX font is best ( Free version ) to use as reference? 
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 3,003
    Really, there is no ASCII character that is universally accepted for this purpose. Underscore is a reasonable choice, but not everyone will interpret it correctly. And having a ligature in your font, that activates from this combination is… obviously risky and problematic. I certainly would not recommend it. People use underscores next to numbers for plenty of other reasons.

    It’s on the _2nd floor_

    (underscores for emphasis in place of underline or italic)
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,422
    LaTeX is able to interpret OpenType MATH table and math feature data. You could take a look at STIX Two Math (open source; see link to GitHub repo at bottom of that page).
  • WAY KYI
    WAY KYI Posts: 135
    edited 4:12AM
    Thomas Phinney said:
    Really, there is no ASCII character that is universally accepted for this purpose. Underscore is a reasonable choice, but not everyone will interpret it correctly. And having a ligature in your font, that activates from this combination is… obviously risky and problematic. I certainly would not recommend it. People use underscores next to numbers for plenty of other reasons.

    It’s on the _2nd floor_

    (underscores for emphasis in place of underline or italic)
    Thank Mr. Phinney  And yes I saw them in Math groups they use ^ as power. And * as multiplier and so on in their comments. I understand your recommendation of using _ for subscript. But what else is for quick & easy to use as one letter? "M_2" is a bit different from " _2" right? Can I make a condition with _ preceded by a letter and not a blank?
  • WAY KYI
    WAY KYI Posts: 135
    John Hudson said:
    LaTeX is able to interpret OpenType MATH table and math feature data. You could take a look at STIX Two Math (open source; see link to GitHub repo at bottom of that page).
    Thanks alot Mr. Hudson. You guys are very resourceful on this forum. This is huge font and not sure how to use it yet. I need to read readme first. Just looking at the lookups, I have no idea how to write a Math equation.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,422
    Math equation layout requires support from a math layout engine. LaTeX provides this, as does Microsoft Word. The math layout engine applies a combination of math-specific OpenType features and the contents of the MATH table in the font. This is all fairly complicated stuff, and you need some special tools or Glyphs plugin to add the MATH table to a font.

    You could start by taking a look at the MATH table specification, which will at least give you some idea of what is involved.

    Yes, the STIX Two Math font is very large, but this is in part because it also includes a lot of technical and miscellaneous symbol characters, and other things not necessary for math.

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