[Tex/LaTex] What does \right. do

math-mode

I have tried searching for \right. in many places but have not been able to decipher its magical properties. Many texts use the arcane symbol but none that I have found explain it. The composition of the symbol with its elusive period, has also made the search problematic.

Please help!

Best Answer

It produces an "invisible" delimiter that is used to match a corresponding \left. You can use it when you need a delimiter only on one side of the expression. lshort also describes it.

An example of such usage would be typesetting a multi-case function definition: with a figure brace on the left and nothing on the right.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amstext}

\begin{document}

\[
  |x| = \left\{ \begin{array}{rl}
       x, & \text{if $x \geq 0$} \\
      -x, & \text{otherwise} 
    \end{array} \right.
\]

\end{document}

enter image description here

(NOTE: This is only an example and has improper spacing. In real life you would use the cases environment for this.)

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