Can I increase the fontsize of parts of an equation?

Question

Currently I'm working on a document in LateX. I would like to increase the fontsize of a part of the equation so that the whole becomes more readable. As an example one of the formulas is presented below.

\begin{equation}
     B(x)=B_0 \cdot e^{-\frac{x}{b}} 
\end{equation}

As can be seen the exponent of e is very small. I would like this to be larger so it becomes better readable. Increasing the fontsize is not an option due to the non-exponents becoming too large.

I'm making use of a styling package called classicthesis and arsclassica. Since I'm inexperienced with LateX I might have overlooked the influence of these packages on the layout of formulas. If this is the case is it possible to create a local environment for my equations that makes use of a different style?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Here are seven [7!] different ways to display the exponential of the fraction:

• The first item is the OP's term.

• The next two are generated by \mathlarger and \textstyle (or, equivalently, \tfrac), respectively; their appearance is the same. (The \textstyle variant was already suggested in a comment by @PeterGrill.)

• I think we can all agree that item 4 (which uses \displaystyle or, equivalently, \dfrac) is awful.

• Item 6 might be okay in a displayed equation, but not so much in inline math.

• I think items 5 and 7 look best, in no small part because they use inline-fraction notation instead of \frac. (@campa already suggested the e^{-x/b} solution in a comment.)

---

\documentclass{article}  
\usepackage{relsize}  % for '\mathlarger' macro
\begin{document}
\[
     e^{-\frac{x}{b}}                \qquad
     e^{\mathlarger{ -\frac{x}{b}}}  \qquad
     e^{\textstyle   -\frac{x}{b}}   \qquad
     e^{\displaystyle-\frac{x}{b}}   \qquad
     e^{-x/b}                        \qquad
     \exp\Bigl(-\frac{x}{b}\Bigr)    \qquad
     \exp(-x/b)
\]
\end{document}

Answer 2

\mathlarger helps.

\begin{equation}
     B(x)=B_0 \cdot e^\mathlarger{-\frac{x}{b}} 
\end{equation}