[Tex/LaTex] Typesetting of negative versus minus

math-modesymbols

I've occasionally seen a negative (when a number is simply negative, not a subtraction), typeset as negative sign that's slightly skinnier and above the centre line of text. Is this proper notation for mathematics and how would one go about typesetting this in LaTeX?

Edit

I believe that calculators were what happened to give me this idea, couldn't find it in any of my math books. Thank you all for the help, it's much appreciated.

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Thank you 'Antal S-Z' for the photo link.

However, the question remains, how exactly would I typeset this?

Best Answer

My understanding is that a negative sign is the same as a minus sign, but the spacing is different since it's a unary operator rather than a binary operator. You can see this in TeX: $-x$ has different spacing from $y-x$:

I'm not sure I can answer your question about it being proper, but I'll say that I've never seen mathematics typeset with a raised, smaller negative sign. (But take that with a grain of salt because most, but not all, math I read is typeset with LaTeX.)

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