[Tex/LaTex] Brackets around a sum that has no top limit

Question

MWE:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}

\[ \mathcal{F} \left\{ \sum_j e^{-2i\pi\nu_j t} \right\} \]

\end{document}

Result:

The sum only has a limit at the bottom, but the bracket size is calculated as if it had both limits, leading to a lot of unneeded space at the top. Is there a way to make the brackets wrap only the bottom limit?

Answer 1

This is the expected behavior, as the braces are placed symmetrically with respect to the formula axis (running at the vertical center of the summation sign).

Use \Bigl\{ and \Bigr\} or, if too small, \biggl\{ and \biggr\} instead of \left\{ and \right\}:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\[
\mathcal{F}\Bigl\{\sum_{j}e^{-2i\pi\nu_j t}\Bigr\}
\]
\[
\mathcal{F}\biggl\{\sum_{j}e^{-2i\pi\nu_j t}\biggr\}
\]
\end{document}