Numbered letters

Question

I've been looking for a while now, for something I think is very basic. How can I use, for instance, "v0" with the 0 smaller next to the v.

Like this:

enter image description here

I can't find it, mainly because I'm not sure what to call it.

$v_{0}$ ? Reading a basic guide is recommended; go to http://ctan.org and type lshort in the search box, you'll get a list of a good introductory guide in several languages. — egreg, Oct 26 '13 at 19:36
is this really about subscripts, or about the use of "old style" numerals. — barbara beeton, Oct 26 '13 at 20:57

Mico · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-26T19:38:47.990

If you're thinking of typesetting material in subscript position, you can do so as follows, in TeX's math mode:

$v_{0}$

Conversely, to typeset material in superscript position, you can do so (again in TeX's math mode) as follows:

$a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}$

To familiarize yourself some more with LaTeX and, in particular, its ways of handling the typesetting of math material, you may want to study Chapter 3 of Tobias Oetiker's "Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e".

kiss my armpit · Answer 2 · 2013-10-26T19:39:55.523

2

By default the subscript uses \scriptstyle, so if you need a smaller subscript then use \scriptscriptstyle as shown in the given image below.

\documentclass[preview,border=12pt,12pt]{standalone}
\begin{document}
$v_0$ or $v_{\scriptstyle 0}$ or $v_{\scriptscriptstyle 0}$
\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Oct 26 '13 at 19:39

answered Oct 26 '13 at 19:33

kiss my armpit

36,086

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 26 '13 at 20:20

2

I'd recommend:

$v_0$ or $v_{12}$ in continuous text (named inline math mode)
\begin{equation} v_0 \end{equation} for standalone equations (named displaymath mode).

edited Oct 26 '13 at 20:20

Mico

506,678

answered Oct 26 '13 at 19:37

Crowley

4,297

Numbered letters

3 Answers3