# greek letters and times

i'm using palatino and trying to take some greek letters from times or computer modern. i used this command.

\DeclareSymbolFont{greeksymbols}{OML}{ptm}{m}{it}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\pi}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{25}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\chi}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{31}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\mu}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{22}


but it gave nothing: no error and no different output. it gives the same result.

a minimal example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\usepackage{sum}

%\DeclareSymbolFont{greeksymbols}{OML}{ztmcm}{m}{it}
%\DeclareMathSymbol{\pi}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{25}.....
%in sum.sty file.

\begin{document}

$\alpha \pi \chi \mu \theta$

\end{document}


any suggestion?

• and what packages do you use to use palatino?... I usually use mathpazo package. – Mika Ike Apr 12 '14 at 19:34
• the same package: mathpazo – mert Apr 12 '14 at 19:35
• You should use \DeclareSymbolFont{greeksymbols}{OML}{ztmcm}{m}{it} if you want the font used by mathptmx. Please make a MWE – egreg Apr 12 '14 at 19:42
• @egreg i wrote that but the result is still the same. – mert Apr 12 '14 at 19:46
• @mert You can try \usepackage{newpxtext,newpxmath} instead of pxfonts: the fonts are (almost) the same, but the metrics have been improved. But I don't think you have the package, if you use SWP (a piece of software which I can't recommend). – egreg Apr 12 '14 at 20:33

Making your example into an MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathpazo}

\DeclareSymbolFont{greeksymbols}{OML}{ptm}{m}{it}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\pi}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{"25}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\chi}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{"31}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\mu}{\mathalpha}{greeksymbols}{"22}

\begin{document}

$\alpha \pi \chi \mu \theta$

\end{document}


The clue is in the log file:

LaTeX Font Info:    Try loading font information for OML+ptm on input line 13.

(/usr/local/texlive/2013/texmf-dist/tex/latex/psnfss/omlptm.fd
File: omlptm.fd
)
LaTeX Font Info:    Font shape OML/ptm/m/it' in size <10> not available
(Font)              Font shape OML/cmm/m/it' tried instead on input line 13.
LaTeX Font Info:    Font shape OML/ptm/m/it' in size <7.6> not available
(Font)              Font shape OML/cmm/m/it' tried instead on input line 13.
LaTeX Font Info:    Font shape OML/ptm/m/it' in size <6> not available
(Font)              Font shape OML/cmm/m/it' tried instead on input line 13.


which is basically telling you that the font you have requested is not available so LaTeX will substitute a fallback instead.

Investigating omlptm.fd tells you why the substitution is 'silent' and does not show in the regular output:

\DeclareFontShape{OML}{ptm}{m}{it}
{<-> ssub * cmm/m/it}{}


What this does is tell LaTeX that when OML/ptm/m/it is requested, it should substitute OML/cmm/m/it silently i.e. without reporting the substitution as a warning/error in the console output.