LaTeX forum ⇒ General ⇒ Math Mode Question Topic is solved

[kurttodoroff]

I have created a few dozen macros, three of which I show here, for example.

\newcommand{\alphaactual}{$\alpha_\text{actual}$\index{a@$\alpha_\text{actual}$ (Actual Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack)}}
\newcommand{\alphai}{$\alpha_\text{i}$\index{a@$\alpha_\text{i}$ (Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack At Rollout)}}
\newcommand{\alphar}{$\alpha_\text{r}$\index{a@$\alpha_\text{r}$ (Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack At Release)}}

From time to time, I place one of these macros inside of math mode. The following is one example of this:

$frac{\alphar}{17.45}$

Clearly, this causes an error, since it is equivalent to:

$\frac{ $\alpha_\text{r}$ }{17.45}$

I prefer to retain the opening and closing dollar signs, within the macro definition, to eliminate the need to type the dollar signs in paragraph mode.

Is there a method to persuade LaTeX to accept $frac{\alphar}{17.45}$?

Thank you.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Kurt,

you could use the \ensuremath command for your macros: latex2e.org/_005censuremath.html

Stefan

[kurttodoroff]

Hi, Stefan.

Thank you for the elegant solution.

Regards,

Kurt

[LouisMyers]

To achieve your desired behavior, where you want to use the dollar signs within your custom macros, you can define the macros in a way that they handle math mode appropriately. You can use the ' \ensuremath ' command to automatically switch to math mode when the macros are used in text mode. Here's how you can redefine your macros:

\newcommand{\alphaactual}{\ensuremath{\alpha_\text{actual}\index{a@$\alpha_\text{actual}$ (Actual Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack)}}}
\newcommand{\alphai}{\ensuremath{\alpha_\text{i}\index{a@$\alpha_\text{i}$ (Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack At Rollout)}}}
\newcommand{\alphar}{\ensuremath{\alpha_\text{r}\index{a@$\alpha_\text{r}$ (Zero Sight Line Angle-Of-Attack At Release)}}

By using ' \ensuremath ', LaTeX will automatically switch to math mode when you use these macros inside or outside of math mode. This way, you can use them with or without the dollar signs, and LaTeX will handle the math mode appropriately.

For example, you can use them like this:

In text mode: \alphar{} is an important angle.

In math mode: $\frac{\alphar}{17.45}$.

This will work as expected and eliminate the need to manually add dollar signs when using the macros.

[LouisMyers]

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