# Difference in height of subscript [duplicate]

I have a problem concerning the following equation in LaTeX:

A_{1}^{\ast} A_{1} = A_{1} A_{1}^{\ast},

where the 1's under the A's are placed at different heights. Does anyone know a simple way to fix this?

-
See, e.g., Subscripts for primed variables (possible duplicate?) –  Hendrik Vogt Feb 13 '13 at 14:24
I couldn't find this page and it does provide an easy way to fix it (using the package subdepth), so this is an answer. –  Vincent Feb 13 '13 at 14:27

## marked as duplicate by mafp, lockstep, zeroth, Werner, Andrew SwannFeb 13 '13 at 15:38

It's the lack of a superscript that's creating the problem. Because of the size of the superscript, the subscript was pushed down. Use a phantom superscript to equalize things.

\documentclass{article}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
$A_{1}^{\ast} A_{1}^{\phantom{\ast}} = A_{1}^{\phantom{\ast}} A_{1}^{\ast}$
\end{document}


-
This is indeed an easy way to fix it, but the answer given in the above duplicate gives an easier way by simply adding the 'subdepth' package. –  Vincent Feb 13 '13 at 14:32
\vphantom would be better than just \phantom -- look at the spacing between the subscript on the first A and the start of the second A in each pair to see why. not a big difference here, but it could be in other situations. –  barbara beeton Feb 13 '13 at 22:17