# How to make the binomial symbol look better?

I am using \binom{\mathcal{L}}{k} with the following font (see code sample below), and I'd like the parenthesis to completely "capture" \mathcal{L} and k as they do if I use the default font. (If you comment out the last three commands before \begin{document}, so that default fonts are used, the thing looks nice.)

Here's how it looks like in PDF (compiled with pdflatex):

How can I deal with this?

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\usepackage{courier}
\linespread{1.05} % Palatino looks better with this

\begin{document}
The following binomial is ugly: $\binom{n}{k}$.

The problem is even more pronounced here: $\binom{\mathcal{L}}{k}$.
\end{document}

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@ChristianHupfer thanks, I'll look into it. – blazs Mar 28 at 9:40
@ChristianHupfer \binom is defined in terms of \genfrac – egreg Mar 28 at 9:45
@ChristianHupfer \genfrac is defined in terms of the primitive \abovewithdelims, which obeys slightly different rules from \left and \right when it comes to deciding the size of the delimiters. – egreg Mar 28 at 9:49
@egreg: I leave it to you -- you answered already. I am deleting my foolish comment – Christian Hupfer Mar 28 at 9:52
@egreg: Well, I’d say that \abovewithdelims follows quite different rules from \left and \right. – Gustavo Mezzetti Mar 28 at 10:10

I find neither so ugly as you say. You could use \left and \right, but in the comparison the standard \binom wins, in my opinion.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{mleftright}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\linespread{1.05} % Palatino looks better with this

\newcommand\test[2]{\mleft(\knds\genfrac..{0pt}{}{#1}{#2}\knds\mright)}
\newcommand{\knds}{\kern-\nulldelimiterspace}

\begin{document}

The following binomial is ugly: $\binom{n}{k}=\test{n}{k}$.

The problem is even more pronounced here:
$\binom{\mathcal{L}}{k}=\test{\mathcal{L}}{k}$.

\end{document}


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Using \left and \right screws up vertical spacing in the text. (I'm using the \binom command inline in text.) – blazs Mar 28 at 9:41
The first case is actually nicely handled with your solution; thanks! I'll try to find a workaround for the second case. – blazs Mar 28 at 9:43