I am attempting to use a symbol from a separate font for the centered asterisk (∗) math operator. The font in question only has the heightened (in many fonts) asterisk glyph (*), which I try to use for the centered variant by lowering it.
In math mode, the operator can be used both by *
and \ast
, who are defined in exactly the same way at lines 150 and 297 in fontmath.ltx
.
\ast
can be redefined with \renewcommand
, but *
seems to be another beast. Can it be changed into a macro, or in any other way change the baseline of the glyph?
\documentclass{minimal}
\DeclareSymbolFont{mymathoperators}{OT1}{phv}{m}{n}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\protoast}{\mathbin}{mymathoperators}{"2A}
\DeclareMathSymbol{*}{\mathbin}{mymathoperators}{"2A}
\renewcommand*{\ast}{\mathbin{\raisebox{-0.7ex}{\ensuremath{\protoast}}}}
\begin{document}
\( good \ast , bad * . \)
\end{document}
Best Answer
Using @egreg's
\DeclareMathActive
: