Text Formatting ⇒ LaTeX symbols for biographical data

[dennis.walter]

When providing biographical data about a person, it is common to use a star (*) and a cross in front of the dates of birth and death. I wonder which symbols one is supposed to use for this purpose in LaTeX's Computer/Latin Modern fonts. Are there any pre-defined commands? I couldn't find them in the comprehensive LaTeX symbol list...

Thanks!

[gmedina]

Hi,

...Are there any pre-defined commands? I couldn't find them in the comprehensive LaTeX symbol list...

Did you try these? (all present in the Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List):

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bbding}

\begin{document}

\dag\Cross

\FiveStarOpen\SixStar

\end{document}

or these?:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{marvosym}
\usepackage{pifont,MnSymbol}

\begin{document}

\Cross\ding{73}$\largestar$

\end{document}

If none of the above symbols satisfy your requirements, please attach an image (or provide a link) showing the exact symbols that you are trying to get.

[dennis.walter]

Oh yes, I did try them. I think the lines in \Cross are slightly too thick. And \dag, as the name suggests, produces a dagger, not a cross.

I like the cross that is used on Wikipedia. (E.g. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill) There it's just a Unicode character that apparently is present in my standard browser font.

But thank you for your suggestions!