How to place text as subscript under mathematical operator in equation?

Question

I would like to put some text in math mode below a mathematical operator (or a symbol), similar to \substack in \sum, as the red text below the \max operator in the following image

How to do this?

score 125 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 06 '12 at 08:33

125

Solved this for Inline mode by using $\underset{1 \leq j \leq n}{\max}$ , however this approach requires the amsmath package.

answered Jan 06 '12 at 08:33

seeker

1,795

11

This is particularly useful when using user defined operators. $\operatorname{Res}\limits_{z=z_{0}}$ will not give you the desired result, whilst $\underset_{z=z_{0}}{\operatorname{Res}}$ will. – Alfredo Hernández Oct 23 '14 at 17:56
2

This is also useful when you want to put a subscript under something LaTeX doesn't think is a math operator (like that's a meaningful distinction), and therefore prevents the use of \limits. – Richard Rast Nov 14 '14 at 14:45
12

@AlfredoHernández I think \operatorname* is the way to go for \limits-compatible custom math operators. – Andras Deak Feb 21 '16 at 20:01

score 110 · Accepted Answer · edited May 13 '21 at 12:41

You should place the expression in the subscript, as shown below. Most LaTeX books explain this. E.g.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Display mode}:
        [\max_{1 \leq i \leq N}]
    \item \textbf{Inline mode}: version without \verb!\limits! would look like (\max_{1 \leq i \leq N}), version with \verb!\limits! would look like(\max\limits_{1 \leq i \leq N}) inside a text.
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

Note how \limits command force the subscript under operator in inline mode (if you think you need \limits, think again — maybe the defaults look better after all! cf. this answer here on TeX.se).

If you find that the subscripted expression is too long and introduces excessive whitespace, you could use \smashoperator macro from the mathtools package, as in this post.

ah thanks, I thought it was limited to \sum command only. Silly me. — Yumyai, Mar 11 '11 at 10:07

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 11 '11 at 08:59

16

I would solve it like this:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}  
\[
    \max\limits_{1\leq j\leq n}
\]  
\end{document}

answered Mar 11 '11 at 08:59

meep.meep

16,905

10

In display math, there's no need to use \limits. – Hendrik Vogt Mar 11 '11 at 09:07

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited May 14 '21 at 02:59

5

As someone suggest above. We should use \underset command:

\underset{1\leqslant j\leqslant n}{max}.
\underset{\substack{\rho\to 0\ n\to\infty}}{l.i.m.}

(for my question above).

edited May 14 '21 at 02:59

Zarko

296,517

answered May 14 '21 at 00:52

adminHuan

71

2

I try to format code in your answer, however it suggest strange solution with wrong typography. Also is not clear what you mean with "(for my question above)." so I suggest to delete it. – Zarko May 14 '21 at 03:02
1

I would not delete it, it works like a charm for me. – ranchalp Jul 14 '22 at 04:38
Thanks for the \substack suggestion, it allows multiple lines. I was using simply \\ but it didn't work. – Yan King Yin Dec 17 '22 at 08:39

How to place text as subscript under mathematical operator in equation?

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