# How to put a full stop at the bottom, not mid-line, after an aligned matrix?

How can I put a full stop at the bottom rather than at mid-line following the end of an aligned matrix expression such as $\begin{pmatrix} x\\ y \end{pmatrix}$?

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Probably you know it but did you try the smallmatrix environment already? –  percusse Jan 21 '12 at 16:14

You can place a stop with a second matrix (sans brackets) and phantom elements. The result is that the full stop is aligned as if next to bottom element in the matrix.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation*}
\begin{pmatrix} x\\ y \end{pmatrix}\begin{matrix} \vphantom{x}\\ \vphantom{y}.\end{matrix}
\end{equation*}
\end{document}


The stop may look misaligned, but see the image below. The downside is that you have to include this phantom matrix, but it does work.

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Something like \raisebox{\depth}{$\displaystyle\begin{pmatrix} x\\ y \end{pmatrix}$}. works. However, this is probably not a good idea from the typographic point of view: imagine the equation A=\begin{pmatrix} x\\ y \end{pmatrix}. Where would you put the full stop? I think the current default where matrix has nonzero depth (i.e. extends below the baseline) is right.

Here is the example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}
\raisebox{\depth}{$\displaystyle\begin{pmatrix} x\\ y \end{pmatrix}$}.
\end{document}


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Many thanks for this. But having lowered the full stop that way, I've then caused two more problems, posted here at: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/41803/… –  Harry Macpherson Jan 21 '12 at 10:41