1st, 2nd and i-th?

Question

Assume I wish to refer to the i-th object, or the n-th function out of some set, where i and n are letters and not numbers (as in "Multiply the $j$th row with the $i$th column and store the result in the $k$th memory cell, where $k=i+j$ ")

How do you suggest to write it?

$n$th is just confusing, $n$-th seems weird, and $n^{\text{th}}$ , which is my current choice, is (pardon me) simply ugly.

Any suggestions?

[After playing with it a little today] One option that makes things bearable (at least in my eyes) is $n^{\text{\tiny th}}$ . — Ran G., Feb 14 '11 at 02:40
Note that the meaning of the question is where "n" is a letter , rather than a number (e.g. the "i-th" element, the k-th index and the n-th dimension). The other question is specific to numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, etc.). — Ran G., Jun 04 '12 at 03:10
@RanG. I agree. My preferred forms would be "multiply row~$j$ with column~$i$" or "multiply the $j$-th row with the $k$-th column". The "th" at exponent is too ambiguous in a math context (and simply ugly in general). — egreg, Jun 05 '12 at 10:54
Yeah, and we are mathematicians: The $(i+j)$th cell is ... — yo', Jan 10 '13 at 10:21
Sorry, but, is this really a question for (La)TeX? To me it seems it is more a question of taste or of the style you need or want to adhere to in general. Even the answers to this question reflect this. How to technically implement the different ways of writing this using (La)TeX has already been discussed elsewhere on this site. — Jasper Habicht, Nov 04 '21 at 01:02
Does this answer your question? What's the quickest way to write "2nd" "3rd" etc in LaTeX? — user202729, Nov 04 '21 at 04:57

score 18 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 13 '11 at 07:24

18

In my experience $n$th is most widely used (like here). Personally I don't think it's ugly compared to the other two options and I think it's quite readable.

answered Feb 13 '11 at 07:24

Andrew

1,514

5

especially with "i", it looks like a typo of "with" (: – Ran G. Feb 13 '11 at 07:28
In spite of this being the most widely used option, I often find myself using $n$-th. I'm not sure why exactly, possibly it is because I use $n$-Bonacci, $\beta$-expansion etc. quite a lot. – yo' Jan 10 '13 at 10:20
2

$n$th may be more correct if you use LaTeX. – N.N. Jan 10 '13 at 11:11
@RanG. For i th, would you prefer $i$-th or $i^{th}$ ? – Cyriac Antony Jan 18 '21 at 06:32
@CyriacAntony in recent years I've used $i$-th. Not happy about it, but it is (currently) the best option I see. – Ran G. Jan 18 '21 at 12:47

score 14 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 21 '20 at 22:00

14

AMS Style Guide has a strong opinion on this one.

See section 12.7.5.3.

answered Jun 21 '20 at 22:00

Symbol 1

36,855

2

Is it just a taste or is there a reason behind it? I think x-th is more readable. – zyy Nov 04 '21 at 12:00
1

It's meant to be dictatorial. You either follow without questioning or not follow for good reasons. – Symbol 1 Nov 04 '21 at 16:22
If this happens in the statement of a theorem, it is italicized, and $i$th is really looks like ith, with no visual separator between i and th. Which does not look good at all. – mathreader Sep 28 '22 at 09:04

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 13 '11 at 09:41

11

$n$th is compatible with the command \nth{} which is called-upon by the package nth...

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{nth}
\begin{document}
\nth{3} is not the same as $\nth{3}$
\end{document}

b.t.w. as far as I know this command only work with numbers...

answered Feb 13 '11 at 09:41

user1999

1,464

6

Yeah, I can't make \nth{$i$} work, sadly. – Translunar Jul 10 '14 at 19:57
4

How could they not make \nth work with \nth{$n$)?! – Tim Kuipers Aug 27 '19 at 21:37

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 03 '21 at 19:44

0

I'd suggest to write it as $n$ᵗʰ.

Some more details at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/621236/112999.

answered Nov 03 '21 at 19:44

mdeff

125

score -1 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 02 '14 at 19:36

-1

$n^{\text{th}}$ is the best if you want to write nth in TEX.

edited Oct 02 '14 at 19:36

dustin

18,617
23
99
204

answered Oct 02 '14 at 19:20

Usman Rauf

9

9

Welcome to TeX.SX! You can have a look at our starter guide to familiarize yourself further with our format. I don't want to disturb you, but (1) this was already proposed in the question itself, so as long as you don't accompany it with any relevant sources, it doesn't bring anything new to the topic, and (2) this is the second most ugly solution, after $n^{\text{\tiny th}}$ , so very far from being the best. – yo' Oct 02 '14 at 20:12
$n^{\textnormal{th}}$ does not require any package! – Say OL Apr 18 '18 at 04:06
1

Why is it the best? Why is it better than the other answers? – jvriesem Jul 29 '20 at 16:31

1st, 2nd and i-th?

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