diff options
author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
---|---|---|
committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
commit | e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d (patch) | |
tree | 60335e10d2f4354b0674ec22d7b53f0f8abee672 /usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex |
Initial commit
Diffstat (limited to 'usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex')
-rw-r--r-- | usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex | 79 |
1 files changed, 79 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..bfe430eab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/5_3/downes.tex @@ -0,0 +1,79 @@ +Replied: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 15:08:00 +0000 +Replied: "Michael Downes <MJD@MATH.AMS.ORG> R A Bailey <R.A.Bailey@qmw.ac.uk>, baskerville@tex.ac.uk" +Return-Path: <MJD@MATH.AMS.ORG> +Delivery-Date: +Received: from axp14.ams.org (no rfc931) by swan.cl.cam.ac.uk + with SMTP (PP-6.5) outside ac.uk; Fri, 24 Mar 1995 13:31:09 +0000 +Received: from AXP14.AMS.ORG by AXP14.AMS.ORG (PMDF V4.3-10 #7286) + id <01HOIAHQZZ1S0002BP@AXP14.AMS.ORG>; + Fri, 24 Mar 1995 08:30:35 -0500 (EST) +Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 08:30:35 -0500 (EST) +From: Michael Downes <MJD@MATH.AMS.ORG> +Subject: Re: amslatex +In-reply-to: <16618.9503201129@galois.maths.qmw.ac.uk> +To: R A Bailey <R.A.Bailey@qmw.ac.uk> +Cc: MJD@MATH.AMS.ORG, baskerville@tex.ac.uk +Message-id: <796051835.339546.MJD@MATH.AMS.ORG> +MIME-version: 1.0 +Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII +Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT +Mail-System-Version: <MultiNet-MM(369)+TOPSLIB(158)+PMDF(4.3)@MATH.AMS.ORG> + +> I am writing a series of tutorials on doing Maths in LaTeX which are +> appearing in Baskerville, the magazine of the UK TeX Users Group. +> In No. 2 I introduced \emptyset. This provoked a query from a reader, +> to which I replied in No. 3. My reply was not very polite about the +> AMS, so I will send you the article right after this so that, if you want +> to, you can respond with a letter to the editor or a short note. + +I'm glad that you brought this question to my attention because it seems +to be a simple misunderstanding that can be easily cleared up. :-) The +question is, to be precise, + + Why does "The LaTeX Companion" show a version of the symbol \emptyset + in Table 8.7 (p 219) that is a circle with a diagonal line through it, + in contradiction to the actual symbol that most LaTeX users will get + from the \emptyset command, i.e. a slashed zero? + +and + + Why does "The LaTeX Companion" show a slashed zero for the command + \varnothing in Table 8.20, which purports to show the symbols provided + in the extra math fonts of the AMSFonts distribution? + +Your conjecture was that the AMS had done something to swap around the +usual symbol for \emptyset with the other symbol that is provided in the +msbm font. As it turns out, however, that conjecture is false; a search +of all the files in the AMSFonts and AMSLaTeX distributions reveals that +there is not even so much as a mention of \emptyset anywhere. And if you +look at the AMSFonts User's Guide, you'll see that the symbol shown in +the symbol tables for \varnothing is not the slashed-zero but the other +one. + +The crucial point seems to be that "The LaTeX Companion" used Lucida +math fonts (if I recall correctly) and therefore the math symbols shown +in *all* of the Tables 8.3--8.20 are actually Lucida math symbols, and +*not* symbols from the fonts (cmsy, cmex, msam, msbm) that most LaTeX +users will see. + +I therefore offer two counter-conjectures: + +1. One of the authors of "The LaTeX Companion" is of like mind with you +that the AMS \varnothing symbol (plump circle with diagonal line) is +actually the preferred symbol of mathematicians for `empty set' and +explicitly swapped the definitions of \emptyset and \varnothing in the +preamble of "The LaTeX Companion". + +2. The makers of the Lucida symbol fonts intentionally placed a +right-thinking empty-set symbol in the font position that is occupied in +the cmsy font by the slashed-zero symbol. And they put a slashed-zero +symbol in the font position that corresponds to the font position +in the msam font of the plump-circle-with-diagonal symbol. + +I'd wager on the second conjecture. It would probably be a good idea if +you pointed out to the authors of "The LaTeX Companion" that their use +of the Lucida math fonts has led to some confusion and they ought to do +something for future reprintings to counteract the natural tendencies of +the Lucida fonts with respect to the two symbols in question :-) + +Regards, Michael |