[Math] Accessing AMS fonts in LaTex

latex

The document amsfndoc.pdf, available from the AMS website , has large tables of unusual fonts at the end. Can someone explain how I can access these fonts in a standard installation of LaTex? I use TexShop, with MacTex.

I've looked around on the web a bit, and I can't find any down-to-earth explanation.

For example, say I wanted to access the unusual curly braces located at positions (3,C) and (3,D) in the last chart on the last page of amsfndoc.pdf. These are apparently part of the Computer Modern math extension font (cmex10). What would I type into my .tex file? Do I need to install extra packages that are not part of standard LaTex installations?

Let me point out that I have no trouble using the fonts on, say, p. 20 of amsfndoc.pdf, since these all have names like \digamma and \varkappa, etc., which I can just type into my .tex file. I'm guessing there is some formula for translating the hexadecimal position in the cmex10 chart into a LaTex command, but I don't know what that formula is…

Best Answer

(Too long for a comment!)

You can have access to essentially every glyph in every font installed, assuming you have sufficient strong will. In this case, you can so something like:

  \documentclass{article}
  \DeclareMathSymbol{\funnyobrace}{\mathopen}{largesymbols}{"3C}
  \DeclareMathSymbol{\funnycbrace}{\mathclose}{largesymbols}{"3D}
  \begin{document}
  This is badly aligned, as expected: $\funnyobrace a,b\funnycbrace$.
  \end{document}

You could scale the character using graphic tricks, and change its baseline so that it aligns more or less correctly, & so on... At that point you will start wondering if it is worth it!

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