# How to prevent additional vertical space around tall inline equations

I've got a Figure caption with a couple of short inline equations in it, one of which being $\psi_\text{pseudo}$, and because of the subscript + descender, LaTeX inserts additional space between this line and the next. However, the next line is also the last and only a third filled, so it doesn't get near the subscript anyway -- and even if it did, I'd prefer to have even line-spacing.

So: how can I prevent LaTeX from increasing the line-spacing after the inline equation?

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–  Peter Grill Jun 11 '12 at 18:13
Just a guess -- if you don't necessarily need a figure for your equations, you could set them inside a subsidiary equation environment, and equation would take some care of the vertical spacing (see e.g. the addendum to this or this answer, where spacing to the upper paragraph can be, and indeed is decreased). If the comments so far don't help, please provide some code. –  dgs Jun 11 '12 at 19:09

TeX inserts some vertical space to ensure text elements don't overlap. For these special cases, you could consider using \smash - this removes all vertical box lengths (height and depth) from its argument. So, you would use \smash{$\psi_\text{pseudo}$}, say.

Left shows the original, right shows the output when using \smash (Click to enlarge):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Pellentesque cursus odio cursus leo tempus auctor. Quisque
porttitor diam ac urna bibendum a hendrerit sem auctor.
Vestibulum dictum congue tincidunt. In tortor neque, ullamcorper
nec ultrices eu, vulputate eu enim. Suspendisse vulputate
aliquam est a volutpat. Integer ut nisl sem. Phasellus sit
amet metus mi, nec consectetur mauris. Suspendisse potenti.
Curabitur gravida libero nulla. Quisque at nunc sit amet
risus ullamcorper rhoncus at at dui \smash{$\psi^2_\text{pseudo}$}.
Nunc leo odio, vestibulum eu mattis ut, gravida in leo~$x^2$.}
\end{figure}
\end{document}


Note though that any changes in the paragraph layout might cause problems in the paragraph flows differently.

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