I declare the package mathptmx in the preamble, but I want to use \mathcal for the letter I without mathptm:
The symbol omega is prettier with mathptm but \mathcal{I} is not.
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath}
\usepackage{mathptm}
\begin{document}
$$\mathcal{\omega}$$
$$\mathcal{I}$$
\end{document}
$$....$$-- use\[...\]. But that's not the cause of your 'problem'. In additionmathptmis regarded obsolete – Dec 22 '15 at 14:18