[Tex/LaTex] Large Square Root Symbols

symbols

Normally the \sqrt{x} symbol automatically scales according to x, so that it usually seems to be the right size.

But is there any way to manually increase the size of one instance of the \sqrt symbol?

This issue came up in the following MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\blank}[1]{\hfil\penalty1000\hfilneg\rule[-3pt]{#1}{0.4pt}} % nice blank underscores
\begin{document}
Fill in the blank for the following equation:
\[ 3 = \sqrt{\blank{1cm}} \]
\end{document}

Best Answer

Perhaps a strut is what you are looking for:

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\blank}[1]{\hfil\penalty1000\hfilneg\rule[-3pt]{#1}{0.4pt}} % nice blank underscores
\begin{document}
Fill in the blank for the following equation:
\[ 3 = \sqrt{\blank{1cm}} \]
\[ 3 = \sqrt{\strut\blank{1cm}} \]
\end{document}

A strut is a zero width rule the height of a bracket in the current font, TeX formats tend to insert them in various places like table rows to ensure that things get an even spacing. More exactly LaTeX defines strut as

\def\strut{\relax\ifmmode\copy\strutbox\else\unhcopy\strutbox\fi}

Where \strutbox is (re)defined whever there is a size-changing command by the following code:

\setbox\strutbox\hbox{%
  \vrule\@height.7\baselineskip
        \@depth.3\baselineskip
        \@width\z@}%

\z@ means 0pt.

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