# Automatically shrinking a matrix

I'm wondering about a way to automatically shrink down a matrix. I can think of \arraycolsep command for the column width but I am not aware of an equivalent command for the height of the lines? Should the whole matrix environment be redefined to allow this?

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probably you can also use a \resizebox{xlenght}{ylength}{contents} –  Martin H Aug 3 '11 at 14:35
but it is going to affect the font size as well, that I do not want. –  pluton Aug 3 '11 at 15:13
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## 1 Answer

set \setlength\arraycolsep{2pt} and \def\arraystretch{0.8} or use smaller values

AN example for the test:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

$\def\arraystretch{3} \begin{pmatrix} foo & bar\\ bar & foo \end{pmatrix}$

\end{document}

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Is not \arraystretch for tabular only? not for matrices of type pmatrix and so on? –  pluton Sep 17 '11 at 12:40
so the question is "Why don't you test it?" ... ;-) –  Herbert Sep 17 '11 at 16:30
well, I tested it and it did not modify anything. I'll try on miniml example then –  pluton Sep 17 '11 at 16:44
@pluton: see my answer –  Herbert Sep 17 '11 at 17:14
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