[Tex/LaTex] Better alpha symbol

alphabetmath-mode

The alpha letter in math mode doesn't look well: its tails aren't clear.

The following are images of the alpha letter in math mode:

Size 10 pts:
enter image description here

Size 60 pts:
enter image description here

Notice how the tails aren't as clear as you'd normally write alpha on paper by hand.

Does there a better alpha letter?

Edit:

I'm using "TexMaths" plugin for Libreoffice writer, with probably xelatex as a rendering binary. (the path is /usr/bin but there're many *tex binaries in there)

I'm using with the following preamble:

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[usenames]{color}
\usepackage{cancel}
\usepackage{wasysym}
\usepackage{upgreek}

\newcommand{\dup}{\mathrm{d}}

% Uncomment this line for sans-serif font
%\everymath{\mathsf{\xdef\mysf{\mathgroup\the\mathgroup\relax}}\mysf}

% Uncomment these lines for colored equations
% Caution! Background color breaks transparency!
%\definecolor{fgcolor}{RGB}{0,0,255}
%\definecolor{bgcolor}{RGB}{255,0,0}
%\pagecolor{bgcolor}\color{fgcolor}

Edit 2:

Actually I use pdfLaTeX due to an error that I received:

! Package unicode-math Error: Cannot be run with pdfLaTeX!
(unicode-math) Use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX instead..

Best Answer

The LaTeX Font Catalogue includes a list of fonts with maths support which can be used with pdfTeX. This is more current and has greater coverage than the Free Math Font Survey mentioned by Lorehead, but it provides less detailed coverage of each option, I think.

Maybe look at Arev, which is often recommended for presentations as it is thought to be especially clear. It is also a sans font which might possibly be better if you are using Arial.

Arev alpha

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{arev}
\begin{document}
\Huge
\[
  \alpha
\]
\end{document}
Related Question