General ⇒ \textonehalf

[tomgoos]

Hi all,

Today I tried to put the symbol 1/2 in my latex document. I could find the one with a horizontal dash (\textonehalf) but I actually need the one with a diagonal dash (like 1/2). In unicode its this one ½, however if I try to put the unicode symbol in my latex document using

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\usepackage{ucs} 
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}

and then use

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\unichar{189}

I, again.., get the one with a horizontal dash instead of the one with a diagonal dash.... aaaarghhhh

Does anyone know how to obtain the 1/2 sign with a diagonal dash in latex?

Cheers,
Tom

[gmedina]

One possibility: add in the preamble

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\usepackage{units}

and then, to obtain your fraction:

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\nicefrac{1}{2}

[tomgoos]

Ah, nice one! It works, that solves my problem. I'm still interested in a single symbol solution though because this still would look slightly nicer. But thanks again for this one, it is a good solution.

[gmedina]

Then maybe the Comprehensive LaTeX Symbols List could be useful.

[tomgoos]

Thanks, I already checked that list. It has the half sign with a horizontal dash but not with the diagonal dash (or at least I was not able to find it although I gave it my best shot).

[gmedina]

You are right. In fact, in page 64 of that document, the author suggests the use of \nicefrac to obtain that kind of fractions.

[localghost]

The textcomp package (Text Companion Fonts) provides exactly this command to get what you want.

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\textonehalf

Best regards
Thorsten¹

[tomgoos]

Yes, I found this one, however, it gives the half sign with a horizontal dash and not the diagonal dash. Normally I would not care about the dash being horzontal or diagonal but I want to refer to exactly this symbol in a figure that I have. Therefore I would like it to be the same. Thanks for the suggestion.

[localghost]

Yes, I found this one, however, it gives the half sign with a horizontal dash and not the diagonal dash. [...]

I can't confirm that. I get exactly what you you are searching for, a fraction with a diagonal line. So, please post a minimal working example (MWE) that shows the opposite.

[tomgoos]

Sorry for the late reaction but here an MWE

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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{textcomp}

\begin{document}
\textonehalf
\end{document}

It gives me the horizontal dash