Must I include \begin{math} every time I want to enter a symbol?

Question

I am using the following syntax in my document's preamble :

\usepackage{amssymb}

Question is, must I use \begin{math} \*symbol* \end{math] every time I type in a symbol ? Or am I missing an easier way to insert symbols ?

I tried looking online before posting but haven't found an answer.

Are you concerned with math-related symbols? If so, using either $<symbol macro>$ or $<symbol macro>$ will work. There also plenty text-mode symbols; for those, it's not necessary to enter math mode. — Mico, Apr 22 '13 at 02:24
@Mico Suggested by OP to be an answer. I am rather young here, so I am afraid that I can act against the rules, when I incorporate your comment into my answer, as suggested by NLed. — Przemysław Scherwentke, Apr 22 '13 at 02:33
@PrzemysławScherwentke - Not to worry: Just augment your answer, per the OP's suggestion, to mention the $ ... $ method. — Mico, Apr 22 '13 at 02:34
@PrzemysławScherwentke you could also mention that $...$ is robust, but $...$ is fragile. — Gonzalo Medina, Apr 22 '13 at 02:39
It's encouraging, in a way, to see that someone, at least, seems to be learning LaTeX from a source that completely eschews plain TeX constructs; it's too easy to learn a muddle of deprecated hacks from internet references. The question is, what source would consider \begin{math} to be the sole math-mode delimiter? That's just perverse. — Ryan Reich, Apr 22 '13 at 02:41
@RyanReich An example (text in Polish) "Do trybu matematycznego wewnątrzakapitowego przechodzimy używając otoczenia math. Na przykład kod \begin{math} x^2 \end{math} kompiluje się jako x^2. Zamiast \begin{math} można pisać skrótowo ( lub $." In short: "$ may be used INSTEAD OF \begin{math}". Horrible! — Przemysław Scherwentke, Apr 22 '13 at 02:54
Highly related: Are $ and $ preferable to dollar signs for math mode? — Qrrbrbirlbel, Apr 22 '13 at 02:59
Also related: Why $ and $ were not defined as robust commands in the first place? — Gonzalo Medina, Apr 22 '13 at 03:05

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 22 '13 at 17:08

6

No. You can use $...$ ; for example, $\heartsuit$ . Another simple method -- also mentioned in @Mico's comment -- is to use $...$: $ \heartsuit $.

edited Apr 22 '13 at 17:08

Mico

506,678

answered Apr 22 '13 at 02:21

Przemysław Scherwentke

37,268

Thank you very much. You might want to add what Mico posted above too for other people to see. – Razor Apr 22 '13 at 02:26
I've taken the liberty of editing your answer to streamline the reference to the $ ... $ method. :-) – Mico Apr 22 '13 at 17:08

Must I include \begin{math} every time I want to enter a symbol?

1 Answers1