Is there a way to change how latex formats parenthesis in superscript?

Question

I am new here an hereby apologize for any mistakes I might make in posting this. I am also sorry if a similar topic already exists, but I failed to find anything answering this.

I am interested whether you can "force" latex to vertically center parenthesis on the whole object within rather than on the first element. I think the following example gives a better explanation.

I want to write something like (I have added a couple of exponents extra to highlight the issue):

Note that $a^{b{^{c^{d^e}}}}$ abbreviates 
$a^{\left(b^{\left(c^{\left(d^e\right)}\right)}\right)}$

And I don't like the fact that the parenthesis center on the first thing so the letter $b$ instead of the whole object within the parenthesis.

Similar things happens with parenthesis and subscripts and fractions which go "too much" in upwards or downwards direction. (i.e. \frac{\frac{\frac{}{}}{}}{}}).

I would really appreciate any help as this looks really bad to me and I have no clue where to find a solution for this.

Welcome to [tex.se]! I have added an image of the output generated by your code — Andrew Swann, Dec 18 '15 at 15:09
just remove the \left and \right and close your eyes to the fact that some of the parenthesized superscripts extend above the outer one. — barbara beeton, Dec 18 '15 at 16:38

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 18 '15 at 14:58

2

If I had to do this (and normally avoid it) I'd probably do

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

Note that $a^{b{^{c^{d^e}}}}$ abbreviates 
$a^{(b^{(c^{(d^{e)^{)^{)}}}}}}$

\end{document}

answered Dec 18 '15 at 14:58

David Carlisle

757,742

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 16 '23 at 19:36

As the TeX experts suggest, there is probably no way to do this automatically. However, we can make big parentheses to appear in the expected size within superscripts (a/234931). The result is reasonable. We can raise the parentheses to fine-tune the result. Here is an example that incorporates raising into the size adjustment.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\makeatletter
\def\bBiggRaise@#1#2#3{{\mathpalette{\bBiggRaise@aux{#1}{#2}{#3}}\relax}}
\def\bBiggRaise@aux#1#2#3#4%
  {@mathmeasure\z@{\nulldelimiterspace\z@}%
     {#4%
       \setlength\dimen@{\dimexpr#1\big@size
         \ifx\scriptscriptstyle#426/50\fi
         \ifx\scriptstyle#434/50\fi
        \relax}
       \left#3\vcenter to\dimen@{}\right.}%
   \raise#2\box\z@}
\def\bigpatched{\bBiggRaise@1{0pt}}
\let\bignraise\bBiggRaise@
\makeatother
\begin{document}
$a^{\left(b^{\left(c^{\left(d^e\right)}\right)}\right)}$\quad
$a^{(b^{(c^{(d^e)})})}$\quad
$a^{\bigpatched(
  b^{\bigpatched(
   c^{(d^e)}
    \bigpatched)}
     \bigpatched)}$\quad
$a^{\bignraise{1}{.3ex}(
  b^{\bignraise{1}{.2ex}(
   c^{\bignraise{.83}{.1ex}(
    d^e\bignraise{.83}{.1ex})}
     \bignraise{1}{.2ex})}
      \bignraise{1}{.3ex})}$
\par\vskip.5in
$a^{b^c}$ $a^{(b^c)}$\quad
$a^{b^{\mathstrut^{.^{.^{.^{c}}}}}}$
$a^{\bignraise{1.8}{.9ex}(
  b^{\mathstrut^{.^{.^{.^{c}}}}}
   \bignraise{1.8}{.9ex})}$
\end{document}

The definition of \bBiggRaise@ is

\bBiggRaise@<scale><dimen><delim>

The delimiter <delim> is scaled to <scale>*1.2 of the normal size, and is raised by <dimen>. To understand the details, it may be helpful to read the original implementation of \big and \bBigg@ in amsmath, and the adaptation of \bBigg@ in the answer mentioned above. The way to typeset ellipsis dots is taken from an answer to the question q/17648.

Is there a way to change how latex formats parenthesis in superscript?

2 Answers2