Text Formatting ⇒ Minus Sign

[latexhelp1]

The minus sign is not working well with the indicator function, defined as follows:

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\newcommand{\indicator}[1]{\mathbbm{1}{\left( {#1} \right) }}
\tau_k 1{\hskip -2.5 pt}\hbox{I}{(x $-$ X_c^{*} = n)}

I would be grateful for any help!

Is $-$ the best way to produce the minus sign?

[Stefan Kottwitz]

In the second line, the definition of the first line is not used.

The second line requires math mode. And if it's in math mode, $...$ is not necessary, you can directly write

Code: Select all

x - X_c^{*} = n

Stefan

[latexhelp1]

Thank you for the clarification! I use package, amsmath, is that what you mean?

How about minus signs in tables? Should I be using the $ notation there? For example, I am trying to align the numbers in the table so I am using

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\usepackage{tabularx}
\noindent\llap{$-$}2.93\rlap{***}

Should I put the $-$ in the llap like such? Should I be doing something else?

And how would I do a minus sign in an a tikz figure?

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\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage[scaled]{helvet}
\usepackage[font=large,labelfont=bf,tableposition=top,textfont=bf]{caption}
\usepackage{amsmath,natbib,numlscape,varwidth}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{colorlinks=true, linkcolor=red, citecolor=blue, urlcolor=blue, urlbordercolor = {0 1 1}}
ymax                = 0.05,
ymin                = -0.05,
ytick               = {-0.05, -0.04, ..., 0.05}

How can I ensure that the -0.05 will have the appropriate minus sign?

In the second line, the definition of the first line is not used.

The second line requires math mode. And if it's in math mode, $...$ is not necessary, you can directly write

Code: Select all

x - X_c^{*} = n

Stefan

[Stefan Kottwitz]

amsmath is generally recommendable. That's not what I mean by math mode.

When writing text or symbols in TeX, you can be

• in text mode: usually letters are upright
• or in math mode: usually letters are italic (variables), and you can use symbols.

In math mode, - is a minus. In text mode, - is a dash, -- a wider dash, and --- an even more wider dash.

Just make sure, that you are in math mode, when you would like to write a minus. Either you already are, such as in displaymath, equation, or array enviropnments, or within $...$ (which is inline math), or, in text, open math mode for it and write $-$. Usually, a minus is not alone, so the complete expression should be written in math mode, such as $-2.93$ or $-x$.

Stefan

[latexhelp1]

Thank you Stefan for clarifying about math mode! I completely understand minus signs in that context now.

I am unclear about graphs and tables, however, as I had previously asked. The - in the figure looks quite large, more like an en dash or em dash than a minus sign, but when I tried to add $$ to the tick marks, I got a syntax error, I believe. In the table, I just don't know what should be in the \llap{} for a table...

Is it correct, in general, that:
- for hyphen within a word (e.g. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt)
-- for page numbers (e.g. pp. 21--22)
--- for en dash as a punctuation mark (e.g. on p. 3---very early into the book---that was said)

amsmath is generally recommendable. That's not what I mean by math mode.

When writing text or symbols in TeX, you can be

• in text mode: usually letters are upright
• or in math mode: usually letters are italic (variables), and you can use symbols.

In math mode, - is a minus. In text mode, - is a dash, -- a wider dash, and --- an even more wider dash.

Just make sure, that you are in math mode, when you would like to write a minus. Either you already are, such as in displaymath, equation, or array enviropnments, or within $...$ (which is inline math), or, in text, open math mode for it and write $-$. Usually, a minus is not alone, so the complete expression should be written in math mode, such as $-2.93$ or $-x$.

Stefan

[latexhelp1]

Hi Stefan,

How do minus signs in BibTeX work? For the page numbers, should there always be two dashes?

For example,

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@ARTICLE{lastname,
          author= {Author Name},
          title= {Title},
          journal= {Journal},
          year= {2002},
          volume= {17},
          number= {3},
          pages= {1093-1119},
}

Should the last row be pages= {1093--1119},

amsmath is generally recommendable. That's not what I mean by math mode.
Stefan