# \mathit spacing with \mathnormal font

I noticed that while \mathit{AHfi} sets the spaces and ligatures correctly (like \operatorname), the letters look narrower than the ones produced by \mathnormal{AHfi}. Is there a way to typeset a multi-letter math operator in the mathnormal font?

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Welcome to TeX.sx!A tip: If you indent lines by 4 spaces or enclose words in backticks , they'll be marked as code, as can be seen in my edit. You can also highlight the code and click the "code" button (with "{}" on it). –  percusse Mar 6 '13 at 14:33

No, you should use \mathit or \mathrm (or higher level constructs like \DeclareMathOperator) for multi-letter identifiers. The math italic (\mathnormal) font is specifically designed so that characters have larger sidebearings to separate them so that abc looks like an implied product of a times b times c rather than the identifier abc. This is a property of the font itself and not something under the control of TeX.
well there's nothing to stop someone using $Act$ or even $A\mkern-1mu ct$ as a single identifier if they wish, it is just that the font is not designed for that use. –  David Carlisle Mar 6 '13 at 15:30
@warakawa I'm afraid that a book dealing substantially with math that doesn't use amsmath for its typesetting can't be regarded as a model for typography. The usage of eqnarray on page 25 is revealing. ;-) Also the usage of $Act$ or \$\mathit{Act}` is not consistent: either can be found. –  egreg Mar 6 '13 at 16:40