# \left\langle bigger then \Biggl\langle

I am putting a graphics inside \left\langle .. \right\rangle, as

\left\langle \vcenter{\hbox{\includegraphics[scale=0.05]{images/lhs.pdf}}}\right\rangle_{av}


The problem is, as it seems, for scale=0.05, it is using \[l/r]angle's biggest possible size, and if I try to make the graphics bigger, it is not expanding.

I have searched google and stackexchange's older posts, and got this thread, which suggested to use scalebox.

I tried that, as

\scalebox{2.0}{\left\langle} \vcenter{\hbox{\includegraphics[scale=0.105]{images/lhs.pdf}}}\scalebox{2.0}{\left\langle} {\right\rangle}_{av}


which ends up in a error:

l.113 \end{frame}

?
! Extra }, or forgotten \right.
\Gscale@box ...scale@y {#2}\setbox \z@ \hbox {{#3}
}\setbox \tw@ \hbox {\Gsca...
l.113 \end{frame}


l.113 is the \end{frame} of my working frame. So, something is missing. Not Sure.

May I get some help?

EDIT As for example,

\Biggl\langle \vcenter{\hbox{\includegraphics[scale=0.105]{images/lhs.pdf}}}\Biggr\rangle_{av}


gives

• You can’t put \left\langle and \right\rangle in separate groups, let alone separate boxes, they always need to come together. Why don’t you try to scale \Biggl\langle and \Biggr\rangle? Sep 19 '13 at 11:51
• \langle and \rangle have a maximum size, the one corresponding to \Biggl, at least in the standard Computer Modern fonts. Sep 19 '13 at 12:42
• I have tried, and thats what I meant when I said "biggest possible size", so, to clarify, \left\langle is giving \Biggl\langle, and its still small Sep 19 '13 at 12:43
• you already know that \Biggl\langle is the largest you can get, and that \left can't be "separated" from \right. so the obvious thing to try is \scalebox{2.0}{\Bigg\langle} ans similarly for \rangle. (note that i've left off the final l from Biggl on the assumption that spacing is the main thing that it affects, and it's better to see what happens with the scaling before trying to fiddle with the spacing.) Sep 19 '13 at 14:07
• Since you have some responses below that seem to answer your question, please consider marking one of them as ‘Accepted’ by clicking on the tickmark below their vote count (see How do you accept an answer?). This shows which answer helped you most, and it assigns reputation points to the author of the answer (and to you!). It's part of this site's idea to identify good questions and answers through upvotes and acceptance of answers. Sep 11 '17 at 15:04

The scalerel package allows you to scale up glyphs to meet the size of an object. The \scaleleftright{}{}{} macro mimics what you might have expected from the \left(...\right) syntax (but didn't get). The optional argument to \scaleleftright is the maximum allowed width of the scaled delimiter, since scaling a glyph very large without limiting its width often looks too thick in its stroke. Here, I have limited the width of the scaled angle brackets to 3ex.

I initially show the view without any manipulation, which is what you observed. Below to the left was my initial fix. Finally, to the right is taking Heiko's suggestion of using \Biggl\langle etc. to minimize the necessary scaling, which will leave the final scaled object not so thick in its stroke.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{scalerel}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\parskip 1em
\begin{document}
\centering$$\left\langle \vcenter{\hbox{\includegraphics[width=1.5in]{hlCr3}}}\right\rangle_{av}$$

$${\scaleleftright[3ex]{\langle}{\vcenter{\hbox{% \includegraphics[width=1.5in]{hlCr3}}}}{\rangle}}_{\textstyle av}$$
$${\scaleleftright[3ex]{\Biggl\langle}{\vcenter{\hbox{% \includegraphics[width=1.5in]{hlCr3}}}}{\Biggr\rangle}}_{\textstyle av}$$
\end{document}


• \Biggl\langle and \Biggr\rangle could be used to get a smaller scaling factor and thinner lines. Sep 20 '13 at 10:31
• @HeikoOberdiek Thank you for that suggestion. Incorporated. Sep 20 '13 at 11:50