The size of some mathematical symbols, notably summation signs, product signs, and integral signs, depends on the environment in which they appear (i.e.,
displaymath
as opposed to math
environments;
see Math Formulas and
Math Fonts and Styles). These include:
\sum
a summation sign (capital sigma)
\prod
a product (capital pi)
\coprod
a coproduct (inverted capital pi)
\int
an integral sign
\oint
a surface (circular) integral sign
\bigcup
big "U"
\bigcap
big inverted "U"
\bigvee
big "V"
\bigwedge
big inverted "V"
\bigodot
big "O" with dot at center
\bigotimes
big "O" with cross inside
\bigoplus
big "O" with a + inside
\biguplus
big "U" with a + inside
The
\sqrt
command also produces a variable
size symbol appropriate for the size of hte radicand argument.
The "limits" associated with these symbols are entered as subscripts for entries appearing below the symbol and as superscripts for entries appearing above the symbol. For example the sum from n=0 to infinity of xn would be entered as
\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} x_{n}The actual placement of the limits depends on whether this is in
displaymath
mode in which case they are placed below/above
or in math
mode in running text in which case they are placed as regular
subscripts and superscripts.
Note that it is possible to treat several of these symbols (a common example
would be a double sum) as a single symbol for placing limits above and/or
below by using the \mathop
command.
"Hats" and "tildes" over symbols which stretch (as best they can) to
the correct size for their arguments are produced by
\widehat
and \widetilde
.