Math & Science ⇒ What is the nicest fraction package ?

[Cham]

I'm looking for the nicest way (I know it's subjective!) to display small fractions inside a larger fraction. I know about the nicefrac and xfrac packages :

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[nice]{nicefrac}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{xfrac}

\begin{document}
Blablabla
	\begin{equation}
		(4 / 9)(5 / v) = (\nicefrac{4}{9})(\nicefrac{5}{v}) = \frac{2/3}{1/5} = \frac{\nicefrac{2}{3}}{\nicefrac{1}{5}}.
	\end{equation}
Ou encore
	\begin{equation}
		(4 / 9)(5 / v) = (\sfrac{4}{9})(\sfrac{5}{v}) = \frac{2/3}{1/5} = \frac{\sfrac{2}{3}}{\sfrac{1}{5}}.
	\end{equation}
\end{document}

Preview :

fractions.jpg (8.35 KiB) Viewed 25468 times

I think that the first term is acceptable (could it be better looking?). The second term is too small. The third term is clumsy. The fourth term appears okay, but could it be better looking?

What would you do in this case ? And which package is best : xfrac or nicefrac ?

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Cham,

it depends on taste and your point of view. Just choose the look you like more.

The xfrac package is newer than nicefrac and better maintained, I think. From CTAN: "The pack­age pro­vides a high qual­ity al­ter­na­tive to the fa­cil­i­ties of the nicefrac­ package."

Stefan