[Tex/LaTex] How to use suggestive variable names in math

math-mode

I want to use suggestive variable and function names in math like the in the following:

result = f(input)

accumulator = sum(inputs)

I want the formula to stand out in relation to the surrounding text. So if I use the following:

$\mbox{result} = F(input)$

it doesn't work because then "result" looks just like the normal surrounding text, while "F(input)" is italicized in math mode. So how can I make the "result" be also italicized correctly and consistently. Maybe I shouldn't use math mode at all but just normal mode and italicize the whole? But I intend it to be a logical unit within the text.

Best Answer

I would probably use bold-upright for multi-letter names so \mathbf{result}=f(\mathbf{inputs}) you don't want to use math-italic for multi-letter names, the spacing is all wrong, but you could use text italic so:\mathit{input}

Depending on the document type you have other ways of making equations stand out from the surrounding text, different offset, or box them, or add colour or....

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[Tex/LaTex] Proper way to use greek letters in an English document

One workaround, though ugly, is to use a different PDF reader: It appears the problem is Adobe Reader. I tested this in SumatraPDF v1.8 and text copied from it to Word 2010 and GNU Emacs 23.3.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.1.7601) fine. It didn't copy to notepad++ oddly. When I used the exact same document it left blanks or odd characters in all 3 of those pieces of software.

If anyone has some magic to make Adobe Reader copy it I would love to hear it though, as that is what 90% of people I send my work to will be using.

[Tex/LaTex] How to avoid background / frame break in code listings with math / mathescape

You have at least two options to correct for this behaviour.

If your mathematical equations (contained within the escaping $...$ ) is fairly simple and usually only contains a one line, and perhaps even does not have any other code above/below it, then you can \smash the escaped content:
```
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{listings}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor
\begin{document}
\lstset{%
  backgroundcolor=\color[gray]{0.9},%
  frame=single,%
  mathescape=true,%
}
\lstset{language=C++}%

\begin{lstlisting}
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
// gratuitious equation $\smash{\mathcal{D}_3(x) = \frac{x^n}{n} \int_{0_0}^{x^2} \frac{t^n}{e^t-1}dt}$ 
*p++ = i;
House h = new house();
int romms = h.getRooms():
}
\end{lstlisting}

\end{document}
```
However, as you can see, even from this small example, the bottom part of the equation is overwritten with the background colour. This is because the algorithm is typeset sequentially, overwriting anything with a depth below the baseline. So this option is very restrictive, and typically only works if your mathematical expression does not drop below the baseline. Pretty restrictive...

You can use a different environment to draw the frame and background. The mdframed package does an excellent job of this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{listings}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings
\usepackage[framemethod=TikZ]{mdframed}% http://ctan.org/pkg/mdframed
\begin{document}
\lstset{%
%  backgroundcolor=\color[gray]{0.9},
%  frame=single,
  mathescape=true,
}
\lstset{language=C++}%

\begin{mdframed}[backgroundcolor=black!15,outerlinewidth=0.25pt,outerlinecolor=black,%
  innerleftmargin=5pt,innerrightmargin=5pt,innertopmargin=0pt,innerbottommargin=0pt]
\begin{lstlisting}
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
// gratuitious equation $\mathcal{D}_3(x) = \frac{x^n}{n} \int_{0_0}^{x^2} \frac{t^n}{e^t-1}dt$ 
*p++ = i;
House h = new house();
int romms = h.getRooms():
}
\end{lstlisting}
\end{mdframed}

\end{document}

enter image description here

In the above example, mdframed uses tikz to draw the frame. It is possible to automate this process of using mdframed in conjunction with listings. For this, the etoolbox package provides hooked to add code before the beginning and after the end of an environment (lstlisting in this case). For this, the macros \BeforeBeginEnvironment and \AfterEndEnvironment is helpful. It is crucial to add code in this manner, since lstlisting modified catcodes for formatting:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{listings}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/listings
\usepackage[framemethod=TikZ]{mdframed}% http://ctan.org/pkg/mdframed
\usepackage{etoolbox}{% http://ctan.org/pkg/etoolbox

\mdfdefinestyle{listingstyle}{%
  backgroundcolor=black!15,outerlinewidth=0.25pt,outerlinecolor=black,%
  innerleftmargin=5pt,innerrightmargin=5pt,innertopmargin=0pt,innerbottommargin=0pt%
}

\begin{document}

\lstset{mathescape=true,language=C++}%

\BeforeBeginEnvironment{lstlisting}{\begin{mdframed}[style=listingstyle]}
\AfterEndEnvironment{lstlisting}{\end{mdframed}}

\begin{lstlisting}
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
// gratuitious equation $\mathcal{D}_3(x) = \frac{x^n}{n} \int_{0_0}^{x^2} \frac{t^n}{e^t-1}dt$ 
*p++ = i;
House h = new house();
int romms = h.getRooms():
}
\end{lstlisting}

\end{document}

In the above modification, a new mdframed style listingstyle is defined and used as style=listingstyle in the option argument to the mdframed environment. The output is similar to the previous example.

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] Proper way to use greek letters in an English document

[Tex/LaTex] How to avoid background / frame break in code listings with math / mathescape

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