# Vertical aligning for simple numbers

I need to typset a series of fractions with no line inside some paragraphs of text (they were used as proportional symbols). It is very simple, actually:

$^2_1$, $^4_2$,$^8_4$

But when it comes to $^{12}_{6}$, the two numbers are not aligned vertically.

If I use a fraction $\frac{12}{6}$ the alignment is good, but the horizontal line shouldn't be there.

Any suggestions?

Thank you, A

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

I need this $^{12}_{6}$ aligned vertically like this $\frac{12}{6}$.

\end{document}


Following all answers, I have to say all of them work fine, but they do not produce a result which is identical to $^{12}_{6}$. The problem arises when you have more than one instance in the same context, and I believe the $^{12}_{6}$ spacing is the optimal one. See the picture:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\myfrac}%  % macro with LaTeX-style syntax
Maybe one can also define $\begin{smallmatrix}16 \\ 8\end{smallmatrix}$ and $\frac{16}{8}$.
\end{document}


amsmath also offers smallmatrix that can be used to set a similar vertically stacked structure.

• $\begin{smallmatrix}16 \\ 8\end{smallmatrix}$ does the right trick, thank you! – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 6:05
• $\begin{smallmatrix}16 \\ 8\end{smallmatrix}$ does the trick, but it creates too much space around the fraction. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 6:20

There is a TeX math-mode primitive called \atop that does exactly what you need. However, it uses so-called infix notation and is not widely used in LaTeX. Fortunately, it's not difficult to create a LaTeX-style macro called, say, \myatop that mimics the syntax of the LaTeX macro \frac. In fact, the construction of the \myatop macro in the example below is exactly analogous to to the construction of the LaTeX macro \frac.

The following code shows the results of this using this macro, as well as the plain-TeX \atop macro and the \frac macro. (Thanks to the great suggestion by @wipet, the upper number using \atop is now at the same height as it would be when using \frac when used in inline math mode.)

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\myatop}[2]{%  % a macro with LaTeX-style syntax
\fontdimen10\textfont2=\fontdimen9\textfont2% using wipet's suggestion
{\begingroup#1\endgroup\atop#2}}
\begin{document}
inline math mode:\quad ${22\atop 6} \quad \myatop{22}{6} \quad \frac{22}{6}$

\bigskip

display math mode: $\displaystyle {22\atop6} \quad \myatop{22}{6} \quad \frac{22}{6}$
\end{document}

• This would be a good solution, but the numbers appear too far from each other. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 6:00
• @user56153 - glad you found my proposed solution good . :-) By the way, the vertical separation generated by \atop is identical to that generated by \genfrac in the accepted answer. – Mico Sep 5 '14 at 6:22
• See the last example with $\begin{smallmatrix}16 \\ 8\end{smallmatrix}$. It has the right separation space between the numbers, but it's got too much white space before and after the fraction. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 7:12
• Note: \atop generates numerator to higher place in text style than normal fraction by \over (your picture is clear). The reason is that \atop uses \fontdimen10\font2 but \over uses \fontdimen9. See TeXbook p. 444, rule 15b. If you need to correct this, you can type (in plain TeX) \fontdimen10\textfont2=\fontdimen9\textfont2 but this doesn't work in LaTeX because of silly NFSS. You have to put this in \everymath or use trick with negative thickness of the rule: {22 \above-1pt 6}. – wipet Sep 5 '14 at 14:57
• @wipet - Many thanks for these very detailed comments and suggestions! I've followed your suggestion to use \everymath to effect the reset of \fontdimen10 and posted a new MWE and graph. – Mico Sep 5 '14 at 18:26

You can use the subarray environment of amsmath, that also allows left alignment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand{\pseudofrac}[2]{%
\begin{subarray}{l}#1\\#2\end{subarray}%
}

\begin{document}

I need this $\pseudofrac{12}{6}$ aligned vertically like this $\frac{12}{6}$.

\end{document}


Why not use an array or tabular?

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\myfrac}%  % macro with LaTeX-style syntax
[2]{\begin{array}{@{}c@{}}#1 \\[-0.75ex]#2\end{array}}
\begin{document}
$\myfrac{22}{6}$, and $\myfrac{22}{6}$
\end{document}


If you want it to be small:

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\myfrac}%  % macro with LaTeX-style syntax
[2]{\begin{array}{@{}c@{}}\scriptstyle #1 \\[-1.2ex]\scriptstyle #2\end{array}}
\begin{document}
$\myfrac{22}{6}$, and $\myfrac{22}{6}$

I need this $\myfrac{12}{6}$ aligned vertically like this $\frac{12}{6}$.
\end{document}


Here is a smaller version:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\myfrac}%  % macro with LaTeX-style syntax
[2]{\raise.12ex\hbox{$\begin{array}{@{}c@{}}\scriptstyle #1 \\[-1.35ex]\scriptstyle #2\end{array}$}}
\begin{document}

\noindent Myfrac plus smash as by the example by Harish and Harold compared with optimal vertical spacing: $^{1}_{2}$, \smash{$\myfrac{22}{6}$}, $^{22}_{6}$, $^{2}_{1}$; can you see the difference? My proofreader will kill me, my proofreader will kill me, my proofreader will kill me :-).

\end{document}


• This solution would be good, but it is too large in height, so that it affects the paragraph height of my text. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 6:02
• In your smaller version the space between numbers is correct, but if you put this code in a typeblock, you will end up with too much space between two lines of the pargraph. Plus, the numbers are smaller than $^12_&$. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 7:15
• @user56153 See the update. Is that OK? – user11232 Sep 5 '14 at 7:44
• @user56153 If you want to avoid effect to the paragraph height, you can also \smash{} it :) – Harald Sep 5 '14 at 7:58
• Harish and Harald, thank you for your suggestions, but see my question edits. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 11:05

The harmony package creates very tightly spaced, vertically aligned and centered numerals with the \Takt command. It is intended for time signatures in musicological writing (Takt is German for "measure" or "time").

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[rm]{harmony}
% rm option uses the roman family instead of the default sans-serif

\begin{document}

\Takt{12}{6}

\Takt{135}{222}

\Takt{3}{1478}

\end{document}


• I didn't know about the harmony package until I read your answer. Neat! – Mico Sep 5 '14 at 20:29

A solution that relies on the stackengine package. I define a \varfrac command in math mode and a \varfractextcommand for textmode. An optional argument is the vertical spacing between the numerator and denominator (separated by \\), that defaults to 8pt.

Depending on the contents of the fraction you may reduce or increase this spacing. Another way of adjusting would be to slighltly increase the value of \baselinestretch for the whole document, as vertical spacing defined by LaTeX is really tight. I give an example where I increase the value of \baselineskip by 6 %, with the help of the setspace package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\newcommand{\myfrac}% % macro with LaTeX-style syntax
[2]{\begin{array}{@{}c@{}}\scriptstyle #1 \\[-1.2ex]\scriptstyle #2\end{array}}

\usepackage{stackengine}
\setstackEOL{\\}
\newcommand\varfractext[2][8pt]{\smash{\setstackgap{L}{#1}\scriptsize\Centerstack{#2}}}
\newcommand\varfrac[2][8pt]{\smash{\setstackgap{L}{#1}\ensurestackMath{\everymath{\scriptstyle}\Vectorstack{#2}}}}
\usepackage{setspace}

\begin{document}

\noindent \verb+\Myfrac+ plus \verb+\smash+ as by the example by Harish and Harold compared with optimal vertical spacing: $^{1}_{2}$, \smash{$\myfrac{22}{6}$}, $^{4}_{2}$, $^{2}_{1}$; can you see the difference? My proofreader will kill me, but my proofreader won't kill me anymore with $\pi \approx\varfrac{22\\7}$ or better (textmode): \varfractext{355\\113}\enspace \varfractext[6pt]{355\\113}, my proofreader won't kill me anymore, my proofreader won't kill me me anymore:-).\bigskip

\noindent With \verb+\setstretch{1.06}+:\\[1ex]
\verb+\Myfrac+ plus \verb+\smash+ as by the example by Harish and Harold compared with optimal vertical spacing: $^{1}_{2}$, \smash{$\myfrac{22}{6}$}, $^{4}_{2}$, $^{2}_{1}$; can you see the difference? My proofreader will kill me, but my proofreader won't kill me anymore with $\pi \approx\varfrac{22\\7}$ or better (textmode): \varfractext{355\\113}\enspace \varfractext[6pt]{355\\113}, my proofreader won't kill me anymore, my proofreader won't kill me me anymore:-).

\end{document}


• Thank you, Bernard, your answer is really interesting. Now I just have to choose between many very good options. – user56153 Sep 5 '14 at 17:37
• @Mico: Not sure your question is for me. I wonder if you mean \myfrac or \varfrac(text). I'm only wrote the latter, and I guess it could work as you ask, using \mathchoice. – Bernard Sep 5 '14 at 19:01