[Tex/LaTex] plus-minus symbol with parenthesis around the minus sign

symbols

I need one (or maybe two) LaTeX symbols that I don't find in the comprehensive list of symbols. The symbol is like the normal plus-minus sign \pm, but with parenthesis around the minus sign. Is such a symbol available somewhere? And if not, what is the best way to construct it from (, \pm and )?

Preferably I would also want the opposite: \mp with parenthesis around the plus.

Any ideas?

Best Answer

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}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] different plus/minus within braket environment

I am not too sure what font to use for the internal + and -, so I just used \hbox{\texttt{+}}. In TeX, each character has a \mathcode, describing its behavious in maths. All of them lie between "0000 and "7FFF (in hexadecimal), except the special mathcode "8000, which makes the character act like an active character. Within the group which \bra, \ket and \braket define, I get + and - to be active and expand to \braket@inner@minus and \braket@inner@plus.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{braket}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\braket@inner@minus}{\hbox{\texttt{-}}}
\newcommand{\braket@inner@plus}{\hbox{\texttt{+}}}
\begingroup
\catcode`\-=13\relax %active
\catcode`\+=13\relax %active
\@firstofone{\endgroup %end the local changes to catcodes.
  \newcommand\braket@inner@defs{%
    \edef\restore@mathcode{%
      \mathcode`\noexpand +=\the\mathcode`+%
      \mathcode`\noexpand -=\the\mathcode`-%
    }%
    \mathcode`\+="8000\relax
    \mathcode`\-="8000\relax
    \def+{\begingroup\restore@mathcode\braket@inner@plus\endgroup}%
    \def-{\begingroup\restore@mathcode\braket@inner@minus\endgroup}%
  }%
}
% old definition:
% \newcommand{\bra}[1]{\mathinner {\langle {#1}|}}
% new definition:
\renewcommand{\bra}[1]{\mathinner {\langle \braket@inner@defs {#1}|}}
\renewcommand{\ket}[1]{\mathinner {|\braket@inner@defs{#1}\rangle }}
\renewcommand{\braket}[1]{\mathinner {\langle \braket@inner@defs {#1}\rangle }}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\[
\bra{++--}A^\dag A\ket{-+-+} = \braket{++--|A^\dag A|-+-+} = \cdots
\]
However, 
\[
\bra{++}(A+B)\ket{--} \neq \braket{++|(A+B)|--}
\]
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] Symbol for “rotate around axis”

Here is a tikz version which automatically gets you all the flexibility inherent in tikz such as rotating the symbol to be appropriate for the axis, adjusting the line style, colors, arrow style, etc...