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I am trying to write a document in which for some reason some of the things like \overleftarrow{example} works but \leftarrow and \rightarrow etc. does not work. Any suggestions?

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Doesn't work as in "doesn't compile" or doesn't work as in "doesn't produce an arrow" or what? – blahdiblah Nov 23 '11 at 23:33
How exactly don't they work? Do you get an error or do they just not show up? – Tikhon Jelvis Nov 23 '11 at 23:33
@blahdiblah: Heh, we asked exactly the same question within 10 seconds of each other. – Tikhon Jelvis Nov 23 '11 at 23:33
I get an error I think something about not being in math mode ? ! Missing $ inserted. it says – Cemre Nov 23 '11 at 23:34
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Nov 24 '11 at 0:06

2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

\leftarrow is a math mode symbol. Try $\leftarrow$ if you're using it inline in regular text.

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ah so thats what missing $ means after all.. thanks it worked. How do I switch to math mode ? – Cemre Nov 23 '11 at 23:37
Math mode just means that the part of the document you're working on is an equation. $abc$ means the abc is in math mode. You can also use \(\); things like \[\] and the various math environments (equation, align...etc) also put their contents into math mode but also have other effects. – Tikhon Jelvis Nov 23 '11 at 23:38
Using $s is one way, but there are others. Have a look at, e.g., math.uiuc.edu/~hildebr/tex/course/intro2.html for more information about LaTeX's various modes. – blahdiblah Nov 23 '11 at 23:38
up vote 1 down vote

EDIT: It sounds like you're not in math mode when you're trying to insert the arrows. If you're already in an equation, you might be using a command that makes a box. Try surrounding the arrow commands with $ or \( \).

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still doest work but just discovered that \ensuremath{\leftarrow} works but dont know how I can do that with out \ensuremath tag – Cemre Nov 23 '11 at 23:33
It sounds like you might be having issues with math mode. Are you trying to put the arrows inside some sort of box? – Tikhon Jelvis Nov 23 '11 at 23:34
trying to use them in an \enumarate along with an \item – Cemre Nov 23 '11 at 23:35
As I said, you need to be in math mode. Try using $\rightarrow$ or \(\rightarrow\) when you want an arrow. – Tikhon Jelvis Nov 23 '11 at 23:36

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