[Tex/LaTex] Functional difference between newtx, Times, Termes, STIX, XITS; text and math

fontsnewtxtex-gyre-mathtimes

Suppose that I want to write a document with Times font and mathematics. I know that packages times, txfonts, mathptm and mathptmx have been essentially superseded by the newtx package which offers more features and better quality (spacing etc.). But there is a relatively new package called tgtermes, so should I 

\usepackage{newtxtext, newtxmath}

or 

\usepackage{tgtermes, newtxmath}

?

I also know that when compiling with XeLaTeX, I can do this:

\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmainfont{XITS}
\setmathfont{XITS Math}

Or:

\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Termes}
\setmathfont{TeX Gyre Termes Math}

Or:

\setmainfont{STIX}
\setmathfont{STIX Math}

But I can just as well \setmainfont{Times New Roman} on Windows.

So I would like to know:

  • What is the difference between newtxtext and tgtermes? (Equivalently newpxtext and tgpagella.) What features are there that are unique to one or the other?
  • What is the difference between Times New Roman, STIX, XITS and TeX Gyre Termes? What features are unique to one or the other? What difference will this choice make in my document?
  • What is the difference between STIX Math, XITS Math and TeX Gyre Termes Math? (Apart from differently designed symbols.) What features are unique to one or the other?

Best Answer

Here is one reason one (at least I) would try to avoid TeX Gyre Termes Math and the OpenType version of STIX for now:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{TeX Gyre Termes Math}

\begin{document}
\[ x(t)=\int_{-B}^B X(f)e^{j2\pi ft} df \] 
\end{document}

  • Termes Math:

    \setmathfont{TeX Gyre Termes Math}

Termes Math equation

Integral sign too small, superscript and parentheses spacing weird.

  • STIX Math 1.1.1-word (OpenType version), it seems like it's unfinished:

    \setmathfont{STIX Math}

STIX Math equation

  • STIX Math 1.1.0-latex (Type 1 version) not bad:

    \usepackage{stix}

enter image description here

  • XITS Math is a fork of STIX:

    \setmathfont{XITS Math}

enter image description here

  • newtx:

    \usepackage{newtxmath}

newtxmath equation

I don't like this latter integral sign but you can pass the cmintegrals option to newtxmath instead.

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