# Footnote in stackrel positioned too high

In my document, I'm using symbols for footnotes (*, †, ‡, etc.). However, when I place a footnote mark inside stackrel using \stackrel{\footnotemark}{=} for example, the symbol is positioned too high.

The left is how I would want it to be, like \stackrel{*}{=}, the right is how it is. Here's the code for this example (I omitted \footnotetext, it's not relevant):

\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand*{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}
$\stackrel{*}{=} \;\stackrel{\footnotemark}{=}$
\end{document}


How can I let footnote marks in stackrel be positioned lower?

Note: I got the idea from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/82306/23992.

• the footnote mark is in superscript position, seems like you want \textasteriskcentered or actually since you are in math mode * – David Carlisle Nov 26 '14 at 13:00
• is the * really meant to indicate a footnote? it won't be interpreted that way if it's above an = -- it will be assumed that this is just a different variation on equals. – barbara beeton Nov 26 '14 at 13:01
• @DavidCarlisle yes, naturally. However, if I use *, it doesn't work if I put another footnote before (because then it should change to a dagger). – Keelan Nov 26 '14 at 13:01
• @barbarabeeton okay, you've got a point. But then what's the standard way to add a footnote to an equation? In the footnote, I want to put something like "here we use ...". – Keelan Nov 26 '14 at 13:02
• @CamilStaps I've known barbara a long time. I _always do what she says:-) (well sometimes). – David Carlisle Nov 26 '14 at 13:42

The \footnotemark makes a raised marker (by default) as that's the normal convention. If you just want the symbol you can use \thefootnote or, in math \text{\thefootnote} so that you locally get out of math mode. (\text is defined in amsmath).
The fact that footnotes by default do not work in math is a hint that you shouldn't be doing this. An = with a * on top is a not uncommon operator: it is a single character in Unicode, U+225B (≛) and accessable as \starequal in unicode-math or stix and perhaps other packages. Readers (including this reader when I read your question) will assume that this is intended to be some mathematical equivalence operator, not a standard = with a textual footnote.