[Tex/LaTex] Superscripts and subscripts in this equation

equationstypography

I have this equation:

g^{\mathsmaller{\left(1\right)}} \left( \tau \right) = \frac{\langle E_{\mathsmaller{s}}^{\mathsmaller{*}}\left( 0 \right) E_{\mathsmaller{s}} \left( \tau \right) \rangle}{\langle \lvert E_{\mathsmaller{s}} \rvert^{\mathsmaller{2}} \rangle}

which looks like this.

equation

Latex always brings out the OCD in me so I have some questions:

  • Why is the first subscript s lower down than the 2nd one? How can I (should I?) force them to be at the same level or does latex know what its doing?
  • Shouldn't the complex conjugate symbol * and the squared 2 be higher up?

Best Answer

This may not be fully in-line with what you're after, since the main suggestion is to drop a bunch of your manual formatting:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{relsize,amsmath}
\begin{document}
\[
  g^{\mathsmaller{\left(1\right)}} \left( \tau \right) = 
    \frac{\langle E_{\mathsmaller{s}}^{\mathsmaller{*}}\left( 0 \right) 
       E_{\mathsmaller{s}} \left( \tau \right) \rangle}
      {\langle \lvert E_{\mathsmaller{s}} \rvert^{\mathsmaller{2}} \rangle}
\]

\[
  g^{(1)}(\tau) = 
    \frac{\langle E_s^*(0) E_s^{\vphantom{*}}(\tau)\rangle}
         {\langle \lvert E_s \rvert^2 \rangle}
\]
\end{document}

I've removed the \mathsmaller font adjustment, as well as the over-use of \left...\right constructions. Their use typically introduces additional/unwanted space.

Specific to your points:

  • To correct for the placement of the mis-aligned s, insert a non-existent * using E_s^{\vphantom{*}}

  • \mathsmaller only reduces the font size (from \scriptstyle to \scriptscriptstyle in your case), but doesn't change the baseline. As such, it seems like the superscripts can be a little higher. If you use the regular (\scriptstyle) superscripts, they are appropriately aligned with the top of the superscripted base.

Ps. Final OCD-ance: Perhaps you could add a small space \, between the operands in the fraction numerator to distinguish them properly, leaving to this output:

enter image description here

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