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Is there a way to type in a delta shape with an angular tail as opposed to the standard curvy tail of the \delta command?

What I am after is what shows up on the first line of the wiki article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_(letter), where they distinguish between upper case \Delta, lower case 'angular-tailed delta' (what I am after) and lower case 'curvy-tailed delta' (what you get with the \delta command).

Douar Gwenn
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    Hi and welcome to the site. Can you show one example of how such a symbol is supposed to look? – mickep Mar 12 '23 at 15:02
  • Are you maybe thinking of the symbol produced by \partial? – Mico Mar 12 '23 at 15:09
  • Thanks. I have added the look I am searching in the question. I could use \partial as an alternative. However, in the text I am typing, I am already using \delta for a dimension parameter, \partial for actual derivation and searching for another sort of delta for the Dirac... I I copy-paste the wiki article, one that directly uses the unicode-ascii angular delta, I get the same typeset output as with the \delta command. – Douar Gwenn Mar 12 '23 at 16:56
  • Oh, so you mean \Delta... – Mico Mar 12 '23 at 18:26
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    I think, the character you are looking for is actually a typographic variation used in some sans-serif fonts. It is actually the very same character as \delta. It is just the font that renders it differently (namely with a sharp edge instead of a rounded tail, for example IBM Plex Sans). – Jasper Habicht Mar 12 '23 at 18:28
  • Hello Jasper. Is there a way to force (with a local command) LaTeX to return a delta with such a modified typeset? If I enclose the delta with \mathsf or \textsf, it does not change anything. – Douar Gwenn Mar 12 '23 at 19:12
  • It seems wikipedia uses the default sansserif font from your browser to display the δ in this table. You can probably look it up in the preferences of your browser. For example mine uses Helvetica to render this table. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Mar 12 '23 at 21:54

3 Answers3

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Here is an example of getting different types of delta using txfonts, upgreek and textgreek packages.

\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{txfonts}
\usepackage{upgreek}
\usepackage{textgreek}


\begin{document}
Regular delta: $\delta$.


Regular Bold and upright delta $\boldsymbol{\deltaup}$. %requires txfonts package


Using updelta: $\updelta$. %requires upgreek package


Using updelta bold: $\boldsymbol{\updelta}$. %requires upgreek package


Text greek delta in text \textdelta. %requires textgreek package


Text greek delta in text {\bf \textdelta}. %requires textgreek package


\end{document}

This is what I get.

enter image description here

You can also find more options by looking at different fonts.These lists from other questions might be helpful.

A Whole List of Math Fonts for Greek Letters in LaTeX?

Automatic upright math when text is in italic

Then you might be able to use the approach used in this answer:

Change font of single greek letter in math environment for all equations (classicthesis.sty)

sasaak
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  • Many thanks. Since I am quite rubbish at pure LaTeX, I work within the LyX environment. I am trying to add somethings in the preamble, but it is ignored... – Douar Gwenn Mar 14 '23 at 09:16
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The symbol I think you are looking for is just a \delta. But in some fonts, particularly some sans-serif fonts, the character has the flat top.

For example, iwona:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[math]{iwona}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\begin{document}


$\alpha\beta\gamma\delta\epsilon$


\end{document}

Kurier:

enter image description here

\usepackage[math]{kurier}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
Sandy G
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The unicode-math package makes both \delta and \partial available in many different alphabets:

In Latin Modern math:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}

\begin{document}
[ \symit{\delta} , \symup{\delta} , \symbfit{\delta} , \symbfup{\delta} , \symbfsfit{\delta} , \symbfsfup{\delta} ]
[ \symit{\partial} , \symup{\partial} , \symbfit{\partial} , \symbfup{\partial} , \symbfsfit{\partial} , \symbfsfup{\partial}
]
\end{document}

Latin Modern Math sample

Davislor
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