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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label numbersets</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Symbols for the number sets</h3>
<p/>It is a good idea to have commands such as <code>\</code><code>R</code> for the real numbers and
other standard number sets. Traditionally these were typeset in bold.
Because, in the ordinary course of events, mathematicians do not have
access to bold chalk, they invented the special symbols that are now
often used for <code>\</code><code>R</code>, <code>\</code><code>C</code>, <em>etc</em>. These symbols are known
as “blackboard bold”. Before insisting on using them, consider
whether going back to the old system of ordinary bold might not be
acceptable (it is certainly simpler).
<p/>A set of blackboard bold capitals is available in the AMS
<i>msbm</i> fonts (<i>msbm</i> is available at a range of
design sizes, with names such as <i>msbm10</i>). The pair of font
families (the other is called <i>msam</i>) have a large number of
mathematical symbols to supplement the ones in the standard TeX
distribution, and are available in Type 1 format with most modern
distributions. Support files for using the fonts, both under
Plain TeX and LaTeX (packages <i>amssymb</i> and
<i>amsfonts</i>), are available. The font shape is a rather
austere sans, which many people don’t like (though it captures the
essence of quickly-chalked writing rather well).
<p/>The <i>bbold</i> family is set of blackboard bold fonts written in
Metafont. This set offers blackboard bold forms of lower-case letters;
the font source directory also contains sources for a LaTeX package
that enables use of the fonts. The fonts are not available in Type 1 format.
<p/>The <i>bbm</i> family claims to provide
‘blackboard’ versions of most of the <i>cm</i> fonts ... including
the bold and bold-extended series. Again, the fonts are designed in
Metafont and are not available in Type 1 format. LaTeX macro support
comes from a package by Torsten Hilbrich.
<p/>The <i>doublestroke</i> family comes in just roman
and sans shapes, at a single weight, and is available both as Metafont
sources and as Type 1; the font covers the uppercase latin letters,
lowercase ‘h’ and ’k’, and the digit ‘1’.
<p/>An alternative source of Type 1 fonts with blackboard bold characters
may be found in the steadily increasing set of complete families, both
commercial and free, that have been prepared for use with (La)TeX
(see
“<a href="FAQ-psfchoice.html">choice of outline fonts</a>”).
Of the free sets, the <i>txfonts</i> and <i>pxfonts</i> families
both come with replicas of <i>msam</i> and <i>msbm</i>
(though, as noted elsewhere, there are other reasons not to use these
fonts). The <i>mathpazo</i> family includes a “mathematically
significant” choice of blackboard bold characters, and the
<i>fourier</i> fonts contain blackboard bold upper-case letters,
the digit ‘1’, and lower-case ‘k’.
<p/>The “lazy person’s” blackboard bold macros:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\newcommand{\R}{{\sf R\hspace*{-0.9ex}%
\rule{0.15ex}{1.5ex}\hspace*{0.9ex}}}
\newcommand{\N}{{\sf N\hspace*{-1.0ex}%
\rule{0.15ex}{1.3ex}\hspace*{1.0ex}}}
\newcommand{\Q}{{\sf Q\hspace*{-1.1ex}%
\rule{0.15ex}{1.5ex}\hspace*{1.1ex}}}
\newcommand{\C}{{\sf C\hspace*{-0.9ex}%
\rule{0.15ex}{1.3ex}\hspace*{0.9ex}}}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
are almost acceptable at normal size if the surrounding text is
<i>cmr10</i>. However, they are not part of a proper maths font,
and so do not work in sub- and superscripts. Moreover, the size and
position of the vertical bar can be affected by the font of the
surrounding text. As we’ve seen, there are plenty of alternatives:
don’t try the macros, or anything similar using capital ‘I’ (which
looks even worse!).
<dl>
<dt><tt><i>AMS support files (Plain)</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/plaintex.zip">fonts/amsfonts/plaintex</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/plaintex.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/plaintex/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>AMS support files (LaTeX)</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/latex.zip">fonts/amsfonts/latex</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/latex.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/latex/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>AMS symbol fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/sources/symbols.zip">fonts/amsfonts/sources/symbols</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/sources/symbols.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/sources/symbols/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>AMS symbol fonts in Type 1 format</i></tt><dd>Browse <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/amsfonts/ps-type1/">fonts/amsfonts/ps-type1/</a>
<dt><tt><i>bbm fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/cm/bbm.zip">fonts/cm/bbm</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/cm/bbm.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/cm/bbm/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>bbm macros</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/bbm.zip">macros/latex/contrib/bbm</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/bbm.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/bbm/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>bbold fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/bbold.zip">fonts/bbold</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/bbold.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/bbold/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>doublestroke fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/doublestroke.zip">fonts/doublestroke</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/doublestroke.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/doublestroke/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>fourier fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/fourier-GUT.zip">fonts/fourier-GUT</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/fourier-GUT.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/fourier-GUT/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>mathpazo fonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/mathpazo.zip">fonts/mathpazo</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/mathpazo.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/mathpazo/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>pxfonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/pxfonts.zip">fonts/pxfonts</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/pxfonts.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/pxfonts/">browse</a>)
<dt><tt><i>txfonts</i></tt><dd><a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/txfonts.zip">fonts/txfonts</a> (<a href="ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/txfonts.tar.gz">gzipped tar</a>, <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/fonts/txfonts/">browse</a>)
</dl>
<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=numbersets">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=numbersets</a>
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