[Tex/LaTex] How to raise a subscript

macrosmath-modesubscripts

For some reason, I need to write a “minus” sign as a subscript on some symbols, but if I simply write $\Pi_{-}$ the result looks kind of odd. I've found that $\Pi{\scriptstyle -}$ looks reasonably better. But if want to add this “minus” subscript and a prime, then I get an unwanted space between the prime and the fake subscript.

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So, is there a way to simply raise the subscript a bit?

Note: I've considered writing something like $\Pi\mathrlap{'}{\scriptstyle -}$, which actually produces something like I want. But then it is difficult to define a macro such that I can write \Neg{\Pi} and \Neg{\Pi'} to add the “subscript minus” on the symbol I supply as an argument.

Best Answer

You can put {\raisebox{2pt}{$\scriptstyle-$}} in the subscript. You may need to play with \mathchoice if you want a solution that will work in subsubscripts as well.

Edit: Or better yet, \mathpalette:

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\raisemath}[1]{\mathpalette{\raisem@th{#1}}}
\newcommand{\raisem@th}[3]{\raisebox{#1}{$#2#3$}}
\makeatother

and use $\Pi_{\raisemath{2pt}{-}}$.

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