Baseline alignment for mtpro2 PARENS

Question

I am using mtpro2 lite and I have the following issue when using the PARENS command, here is the minimal example

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, amsfonts, amsthm, amssymb,fancyhdr,graphicx}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[spanish,es-nolayout]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[paper=a4paper,
    verbose=true,
    total={170mm,257mm},includefoot,includehead
    ,nomarginpar,
    ]{geometry}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{times}
\usepackage[scaled=0.92]{helvet}
\usepackage[lite]{mtpro2}
\usepackage{fix-cm,multicol}
\usepackage{enumerate}

\newtheoremstyle{Solus}%
    {\topsep}
    {\topsep}
    {\sffamily}
    {0pt}
    {\bfseries}{:}
    { }
    {}%
\theoremstyle{Solus}
\newtheorem*{solu}{Solución}

\begin{document}
\begin{solu}
Primero debemos encontrar el dominio de $Y$, en este caso
\begin{align*}
Y=\ln\PARENS{{a^{|K|}}} \text{ PARENS}\\
 =\ln\left(a^{|K|}\right) \text{ left(  right)}\\
 =\ln\LEFTRIGHT(){a^{|K|}} \text{ LEFTRIGHT()}
\end{align*}
\end{solu}

\end{document}

the result is the following

I rather like the second option since the argument of \ln is align with the baseline. Is there a way to ensure this behavior with PARENS and LEFTRIGHT?

Answer 1

\PARENS is the same as \LEFTRIGHT(). They should only be used for objects that are to be set centered with respect to the formula axis: matrices, systems of equations, subalignments.

You have to use the standard commands for your case. Here are the various possibilities

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[spanish,es-nolayout]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\usepackage{times}
\usepackage[lite]{mtpro2}

\begin{document}

Primero debemos encontrar el dominio de $Y$, en este caso
\begin{align*}
Y&=\ln(a^{|K|})            && \text{nothing}\\
 &=\ln\bigl(a^{|K|}\bigr)  && \text{bigl and bigr}\\
 &=\ln\Bigl(a^{|K|}\Bigr)  && \text{Bigl and Bigr}\\
 &=\ln\left(a^{|K|}\right) && \text{left and right}\\
\end{align*}

\end{document}

I'd have no doubt in choosing the first instance, but I wouldn't throw stones to anybody using the second way. The third and fourth (that look identical and indeed are in this case) are out of the question: the parentheses are too large.

Of course I'd choose the first if I was compelled to use parentheses. Personally I'd simply write

\ln a^{|K|}

(actually I'd use \log, but this is another matter) and rely for the interpretation on the standard precedence rules, where exponentiation takes precedence over the logarithm. However I understand that sometimes more clarity is needed.

Don't forget \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}, by the way, though it's not related to the problem.