Change the size of only a part/subset of a single equation

Question

For example, I'd like to do:

$Q^{r<1}$

but with the r<1 having a much smaller font size than the Q. Of course r<1 will naturally have a smaller size since it is a superscript, but I want to make it even smaller, without changing the size of Q.

I prefer a solution in LyX, but a TeX solution will do.

Answer 1

If you really need to go smaller than scriptscriptsyle, you could use scalebox (but it's getting very small to read)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}


$Q^{r<1}$

$Q^{\scriptscriptstyle r<2}$

$Q^{\scalebox{.2}{$r<4$}}$

\end{document}

Answer 2

Method

1. Insert math macro (from the menu or the "\foo:=" button on the toolbar)

   a. For Name type say "qp" .

   b. For TeX type exactly "\mathbb Q ^\scalebox{.5 {#1" The result should look like "Q^{\scalebox{.5}{#1}}". This will be output in the LaTeX.

   c. For Lyx type say "\mathbb Q ^#1 _\circ". The result should look like "Q_°^#1". This will be displayed in Lyx.

2. Go to Document Settings LaTeX Preamble and add "\usepackage{graphicx}".

3. Write your document after the macro definition and use "\qp" wherever you want this tiny power of Q.

Notes

You are of course free to choose a different macro name as well as a different LyX part. I chose to use "_\circ" to clearly distinguish it from the usual "\mathbb{Q}".