[Tex/LaTex] How to properly typeset the set of all equivalence classes

Question

Consider the following MWE:

\documentclass{amsart}

\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
    X/\sim
\end{equation}
\end{document}

which produces

Not very appealing to the eye. Is there a way to reduce the space between \sim and /. Furthermore, what would be the correct way of typesetting this and in general which symbol should be used for typesetting an equivalence relation?

Answer 1

I suggest to use logical markup for such typesetting if this is needed a lot of times, say, using a command \equivclass

It is possible to introduce some negative spacing with \!, but this will lead to very narrow spacing between the / and ~ symbols. I don't recommend it. Judge yourself, however.

\documentclass{amsart}

\newcommand{\equivclass}[1]{%
  #1/{\sim}%
}
\newcommand{\equivcls}[1]{%
  #1/\!{\sim}%
}

\begin{document}

\begin{equation}
\equivclass{X}
\end{equation}

\begin{equation}
\equivcls{X}
\end{equation}

\end{document}