# typesetting according to the German traditions/standards for mathematical content

There are German standards documents for typesetting of math and science. As far as I can tell, of particular interest are DIN 1304 (symbols in formulas) and especially DIN 1338 (typesetting of formulas).

As there are packages for citing according to German citation rules (DIN 1505), namely din1505 and dinat, I was wondering whether there are also packages facilitating German-style mathematical typesetting.

(I understand that some of the German traditions cannot be automated and are left to the authors. Examples, for those who are interested: We don't use the ∴/∵ symbols nowadays (even though they seem to have originated in Germany), we always use centered dots (and never \times) for multiplication in arithmetic, we don't write things like "3(4)(5)=60" (found in many US textbooks, though not at the university level), and we use "~" instead of "∝" to indicate proportionality between two physical quantities. As for these examples, I do not know to what extent they follow from DIN 1338.)

An example given by a relevant German Wikipedia article would be that in German math typesetting, limits always appear below/above a sum symbol, though (disclaimer!) I have not verified this statement against the standard DIN 1338.

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I don't know about those norms; but the reason why limits are typeset next to the summation symbol in in-line formulas is typographic: the limits above and below would irremediably spoil the spacing. If I have to choose between good typography and a norm imposed by unknown bureaucrats, I'd go with the former. –  egreg Oct 15 '12 at 22:44
@JuriRobl: Those are symbols for therefore and because. –  Peter Grill Oct 15 '12 at 22:50
@JuriRobl As Peter says, they are used for "therefore" and "because", but in my opinion they should never be used, not even at the blackboard. –  egreg Oct 15 '12 at 22:52
@JuriRobl: I think you should use \implies which has the correct math spacing instead of \Rightarrow. Sorry I did not mean to imply that my comments were related to German typesetting, they were only to answer your question as to what those symbols mean. Those symbols are used in North America at least, although I rarely see the \because symbol. –  Peter Grill Oct 15 '12 at 23:09
@Juri: I've been a mathematician for a long time, and I've hardly ever encountered square brackets. I've never ever seen them in pure math German lectures and literature. –  Hendrik Vogt Oct 16 '12 at 6:56
For example if you don't want to use the \times then simply use the \cdot. I highly recommend reading the book "LaTeX in Naturwissenschaft & Mathematik". Herbert Voss wrote it.
Welcome to TeX.sx! A tip: You can use backticks ` to mark your inline code as I did in my edit. –  Kurt Oct 15 '12 at 22:39