[Tex/LaTex] Is the inline scaling of $\gtrsim$ or $\gtrapprox$ ok

Question

I want to write the commands \gtrsim or \gtrapprox from the amsart class inline but the symbols look disproportionally big compared to x, y:

\documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}

 $x\gtrsim y$ or  $x\gtrapprox y$

\end{document}

I tried \scriptstyle but it looks awful. Is the scaling correct and if no what to do?

Answer 1

The symbols of package amssymb for \gtrsim and \gtrapprox are a little larger than in other fonts (e.g., MnSymbl). The symbols can be shrunk via \scalebox. Small disadvantage: the shrinking also affects the line thickness.

The following example scales the symbols to 80% and respects the current math style. Furthermore, the symbol remains centered around the current math axis:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\newcommand*{\GtrSim}{\smallrel\gtrsim}
\newcommand*{\GtrApprox}{\smallrel\gtrapprox}

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\smallrel}[2][.8]{%
  \mathrel{\mathpalette{\smallrel@{#1}}{#2}}%
}
\newcommand*{\smallrel@}[3]{%
  % #1: scale factor
  % #2: math style
  % #3: symbol
  \sbox0{$#2\vcenter{}$}%
  \dimen@=\ht0 %
  \raise\dimen@\hbox{%
    \scalebox{#1}{%
      \raise-\dimen@\hbox{$#2#3\m@th$}%
    }%
  }%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
  $x\gtrsim y$ or $x\gtrapprox y$

  $x\GtrSim y$ or $x\GtrApprox y$

  $\scriptstyle x\GtrSim y$ or $\scriptstyle x\GtrApprox y$

  $\scriptscriptstyle x\GtrSim y$ or $\scriptscriptstyle x\GtrApprox y$
\end{document}