equationssuperscriptssymbols
So I want to write a Cobb-Douglas function F = Kα * L1-α. I've written this in LaTeX:
\(Y = K^{\alpha}L^{1−\alpha}\)
Everything is fine except that the minus sign that should be between 1 and alpha in superscript above L is missing. What am I doing wrong?
I once proposed the following definitions
\newcommand\varpm{\mathbin{\vcenter{\hbox{%
\oalign{\hfil$\scriptstyle+$\hfil\cr
\noalign{\kern-.3ex}
$\scriptscriptstyle({-})$\cr}%
}}}}
\newcommand\varmp{\mathbin{\vcenter{\hbox{%
\oalign{$\scriptstyle({+})$\cr
\noalign{\kern-.3ex}
\hfil$\scriptscriptstyle-$\hfil\cr}%
}}}}
Example
\documentclass{article}
\newcommand\varpm{\mathbin{\vcenter{\hbox{%
\oalign{\hfil$\scriptstyle+$\hfil\cr
\noalign{\kern-.3ex}
$\scriptscriptstyle({-})$\cr}%
}}}}
\newcommand\varmp{\mathbin{\vcenter{\hbox{%
\oalign{$\scriptstyle({+})$\cr
\noalign{\kern-.3ex}
\hfil$\scriptscriptstyle-$\hfil\cr}%
}}}}
\begin{document}
$a\varpm b\varmp c$
\end{document}
You should use math mode not text mode with shrinking via the graphics driver.
\newcommand{\minus}[1]{{#1}^{-}}
\newcommand{\plus}[1]{{#1}^{+}}
This will make a minus sign not a hyphen, and be naturally smaller because of the superscript.
Best Answer
For the minus sign in math mode LaTeX requires the "hyphen-minus" of ASCII days, in Unicode U+002D:
-. That is, the one that should be produced by your keyboard ordinarily.It seems you have ended up giving it the minus sign
−(U+2212). I'm not sure how you have done this, perhaps copying and pasting from somewhere.LaTeX does not recognise this by default, although I'm sure with
inputencor XeLaTeX it could use it. But the character you need in math mode is U+002D:-(Spaces around the
-are not necessary, I just think it makes your code easier to read and it aids hard wrapping).