Why does f\left(x\right) result in more space before the ( than f{\left(x\right)}?
i.e. Why does putting extra braces suppress the space?
1 Answer
\left and \right create a "inner formula" with additional spaces around except in scriptsize or smaller or after an opening delimiter or before a closing delimiter. The curly braces put the inner formula into a sub formula with the same spacing rules as an ordinary math atom (\mathord).
See package mleftright, if you want a solution without additional spacing:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mleftright}
\begin{document}
\[
f \left(\frac xy\right) g =
f {\left(\frac xy\right)} g =
f \mleft(\frac xy\mright) g
\]
\end{document}
answered Feb 23, 2014 at 22:02
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@egreg: That's the disadvantage of a minimal example. The size of the argument does not matter for the horizontal spacing. In real life
xcould be a larger construct like a fraction or whatever. Feb 23, 2014 at 22:04 -
1That's clear; but I see too many people using
\leftand\rightwhen they shouldn't.– egregFeb 23, 2014 at 22:05 -
f(x).\mathrel,\mathop, etc.) of the parens are lost outside the braces. Similar to$a - b$versus$a {- b}$.$f\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)$would have been so far from minimal and it would have better explained the issue. Why are you taking it so personally?{\it sniff} and cryeats some space betweensniffandandhe will probably get some comments asking why isn't he using\textit{sniff}(which, in my opinion, are beneficial), rather than explaining the italic correction (that would probably be an answer). In short: “I really freaking hate comments like yours”.