[Tex/LaTex] Making a shorter minus

math-mode

I am doing some display typography with an equation in it using the mathpazo package. At one point I have this fraction:

$\sqrt{-\frac{1}{9}}$

To me, the minus looks too long. I would like to make it shorter, but use of \textrm{-} gives me something that is too thick. Is there a way to get something with the thickness of the minus above, but of a similar length to a hyphen?

Edited to add: this is really for a special case of enormous type on a T-shirt design, and the standard minus sign looks strange. I would not do this for standard use of math in an article.

Best Answer

Would something as simple as a \scalebox do?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fixltx2e,graphicx,mathpazo}
\begin{document}
\( \sqrt{\scalebox{0.75}[1.0]{\( - \)}\frac{1}{9}} \)

% cf.
\( \sqrt{-\frac{1}{9}} \) 
\end{document}

Here, I am using the optional argument to \scalebox to set the vertical scaling to 1, so that only the horizontal size changes.

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