Text Formatting ⇒ Footnote before of after ":" ?

[Cham]

I have some troubles deciding if a footnote number should be placed before of after the ":", that precede an equation. For example :

Code: Select all

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\noindent
Is this the proper way of placing the footnote number\footnote{A footnote.} :
\begin{equation}
	y(x) = x^2,
\end{equation}
Or is this the proper way of placing the footnote number :\footnote{A footnote.}
\begin{equation}
	y(x) = x^2,
\end{equation}
\end{document}

So what is the convention in the scientific litterature ? The first or the second way ?

[cgnieder]

In my opinion this depends on the contents of the note. Is it a note to the last word before the colon or to the last sentence before the colon? Either way I would not leave a space before the colon. In most languages this is just wrong. For those where the space is required babel takes care.

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[french,english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

Is this the proper way of placing the footnote number\footnote{``number'' is
  an English word.}:
\begin{equation}
  y(x) = x^2 .
\end{equation}
Or is this the proper way of placing the footnote number:\footnote{The last
  sentence is a question followed by the equation of a function.}
\begin{equation}
  y(x) = x^2 .
\end{equation}

\selectlanguage{french}

The correct French punctuation: see?

\end{document}

Regards

[Johannes_B]

There are several styles used in scientific literature, common ones are the chicago manual of style, the APA style guide, MLA among others. Naturally, they all differ at some places.

The spacing before and after a colon (and other punctuation marks) is ruled by ortography and typography of some languages, for example french. So, i guess the most reliable source is a french style guide. If there is none, have a look at publications in your field. How do they use footnotes?

[Cham]

The spacing itself isn't a problem. The footnote content is (mostly) about the equation that follows the footnote number. For example, I may write something like this :

Code: Select all

Thus we get the following equation\footnote{Take note that this equation may also be found by another way, bla bla bla.} :

So in this case, should I place the footnote number before or after the ":" ?

[cgnieder]

Code: Select all

Thus we get the following equation\footnote{Take note that this equation may also be found by another way, bla bla bla.} :

This example is pretty clear: it is a note to the last word (“equation”). So if you're not following a certain style guide like Johannes suggested I'd place it before the colon. (And I'd still not hard code the space before the colon.)

Regards