How to have italic Greek letters with pslatex package

Question

I have to use the pslatex package for a document I'm creating. When using this package, all Greek letters in math mode appear bold and non-italic. However, I'd prefer if my Greek letters (or at the minimum my lower case Greek letters) were italic and not bold. Is there any way to do this while still using the pslatex package? I've tried the suggestions in both answers here with no success. Thanks in advance for any help.

You can use my answer here (in reverse, with positive default slant): http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/145926/upright-greek-font-fitting-to-computer-modern/230220#230220 to do it. If you want it done automatically that might be done, as well, perhaps. — Steven B. Segletes, Apr 19 '16 at 11:13
As far as I know, pslatex is an obsolete package. Who's asking for it? — egreg, Apr 19 '16 at 11:48
@egreg Ah, that's unfortunate. My school asks for pslatex for master's and Ph.D. theses. It seems perhaps they should update their requirements. — Gecko, Apr 19 '16 at 18:45

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

As indicated by my comment, one can start with my answer at Upright Greek font fitting to Computer Modern. However, here, I extend that to take into account the current math style, and also to show how the process can be automated by redefining the greek letters.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{mathptmx,pslatex,scalerel}

\newsavebox{\foobox}
\newcommand{\slantbox}[2][0]{\mbox{%
        \sbox{\foobox}{#2}%
        \hskip\wd\foobox
        \pdfsave
        \pdfsetmatrix{1 0 #1 1}%
        \llap{\usebox{\foobox}}%
        \pdfrestore
}}
\newcommand\slant[2][.12]{\ThisStyle{\slantbox[#1]{$\SavedStyle#2$}}}

\begin{document}

Do it manually

$\alpha\beta\gamma\delta\epsilon\eta\mu\phi\sigma\tau\omega\xi\psi\zeta$\par
\slant\alpha\slant\beta\slant\gamma\slant\delta\slant[.1]\epsilon%
\slant\eta\slant[.1]\mu\slant\phi\slant\sigma\slant\tau\slant\omega%
\slant\xi\slant\psi\slant\zeta

or automate (even across math styles):
%PUT THE FOLLOWING IN PREAMBLE, FOR EACH GREEK LETTER
\let\svalpha\alpha
\def\alpha{\slant\svalpha\mkern1mu}
\let\svbeta\beta
\def\beta{\slant\svbeta\mkern1mu}
%

$z = \alpha x + \beta y$

$\scriptscriptstyle z = \alpha x + \beta y$
\end{document}

Not sure about correcting the default boldness.

Note that in this answer, epsilon and varepsilon rendering in pslatex, egreg recommends using mathptmx in lieu of pslatex, which is "obsolete", in his words. Certainly, pslatex greek glyphs do not seem properly scaled to the surrounding math.

By redefining

\newcommand\slant[2][.12]{\ThisStyle{\slantbox[#1]{\scalebox{.9}{$\SavedStyle{#2}$}}}}

the scale factor can also be addressed somewhat:

Thanks for the help. My Greek letters are looking a lot nicer now. — Gecko, Apr 19 '16 at 22:47

How to have italic Greek letters with pslatex package

1 Answers1