I need a symbol that Math does not provide. What can I do?

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I need a symbol that Math does not provide. What can I do?


If you have a font containing the symbol you can define a userdefined symbol.

Follow these steps:

  • Open the Symbols dialog (Tools-Catalog...).
  • Click 'Edit'.
  • Type a name for the new symbol in the combobox 'Symbol'.
  • Type a new name or select

an existing name in the combobox 'Symbol set. This is the symbol set you want your symbol to appear in.

  • Select the font in the listbox 'Font', for example the

StarMath font.

  • Select the formatting (normal, bold, bold-italic or italic)

in the listbox 'Typeface'.

  • Click on the symbol in the table.
  • Click 'Add' to add your symbol.

You can now use your symbol like any other symbol by selecting it in the Symbols dialog or entering %thenameofthesymbol directly.

If you don't have the symbol try looking in the StarMath font first; it contains about 25 additional symbols.

Another source of symbols is the so-called AMS fonts of the American Mathematical society.

You can download these in Postscript type 1 format from www.ams.org/tex/amsfonts.html.

If you use Microsoft Windows you might prefer to download the unofficial BaKoMa Truetype versions from www.ctan.org/tex-archive/fonts/cm/ps-type1/bakoma/.

Refer to the documentation distributed with the fonts for conditions of use.

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