Why is my text font lighter than my math font?

Question

When I used packages like Mathdesign and give commands like \setrmdefault{cmr} or something like this, what used to happen is the Text Font used to get lighter whereas the Math font used to be darker. Why does this happen, and how can I prevent this from happening?

Answer 1

Chandru,

(First things first: we're all here to help. However, you can make things easier on everyone by paying attention to the way you present your questions. Please don't be put off, life is one big learning game! But also please think of the community before throwing improperly considered questions to the group - we've all got better things to do than to help those who are too lazy to first try hard themselves.)

Now to your question... frabjous essentially answered it when he asked why you had loaded mathdesign (presumably with one of the utopia, garamond or charter options), only afterwards to change your document's default Roman font to Computer Modern. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this per se. I sometimes do things like this when wanting to pair another Roman typeface with the mathdesign math font set. Still, because they pair so poorly, it seems very odd to want to mix CM with mathdesign. Computer Modern is an exceptionally light font; as you point out, too light for mathdesign.

Now, why not use garamond or charter as your primary Roman font? The mathdesign package has been specifically tuned for them. If for some strange reason you can't and you really need to stick with cmr, then why not dispense with mathdesign and \usepackage{amsfonts} with \usepackage{amssymb}?

If that doesn't suit your requirements, and you really like the 'lightness' of Computer Modern, you might consider replacing the line where you write \usepackage[...]{mathdesign} with (1) \usepackage{lmodern} or (2) with \usepackage[light]{kpfonts}, that is, with (1) Latin Modern or (2) Kepler Project fonts using the light option. Both are downloadable from CTAN.

Now, if none of that makes sense, or if it doesn't provide the answer you wanted or expected, here's what you should do:

• as others have mentioned, post another question that more precisely describes your problem and the nature of what you want sorted out, including a better title;
• read up on LaTeX font selection commands
• stop trying to pair Computer Modern with mathdesign math fonts!

Anyway, Chandru, please don't be deterred. TeX/LaTeX is a powerful but confusing beast, the fun is learning how to climb that wall to tame it to your needs. We're here to help you, but show us that you've done your best to solve your own problems before hitting on us. In no time at all, you'll even be helping others! So, welcome to this board.