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I have an old and slow computer and long LaTeX files. When typing I prefer to use \frac 1{x} instead of \frac{1}{x} or x_i instead of x_{i}.
Does the presence or omission of curly braces in these instances affect the compilation time in any way? If so in which way?
The version without the braces is processed a tiny bit faster than the version with braces. Typesetting one million times $\frac12$ required 8.69 seconds, while a million $\frac{1}{2}$ took 8.81 seconds. This is what I call a negligible difference; the latter syntax is clearer.
x_mnis not the same asx_{mn}but with regards to the compilation I cannot say much. – azetina Jan 21 '14 at 15:32timewith and without braces for 60 simple expressions shows that therealandusertimes increase with braces (from 0.195s to 0.210s and from 0.176s to 0.188s). Thesystime remains equal (0.020s). – Gonzalo Medina Jan 21 '14 at 15:36$\frac12$one million times getting a user time of 8.69 seconds, while$\frac{1}{2}$the same number of times takes 8.81 seconds. This is what I call a negligible difference; the latter syntax is clearer. – egreg Jan 23 '14 at 11:37