What is the correct type for sign(x)(signum function)? I'm using:
\documentclass[journal,transmag]{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\newcommand{\sign}{\text{sign}}
Is that correct or should I be using "sgn" instead?
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closed as off-topic by yo', Mico, Svend Tveskæg, Mensch, Jesse Oct 2 '15 at 17:04
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "This question does not fall within the scope of TeX, LaTeX or related typesetting systems as defined in the help center." – yo', Mico, Svend Tveskæg, Mensch, Jesse
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Whether you use “sign” or “sgn” is a style issue which your intended publisher can answer, not us. That said, you probably want to use AMSMath’s \DeclareMathOperator not \newcommand; see newcommand vs. DeclareMathOperator:
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\usepackage{amsmath}
\DeclareMathOperator{\sign}{sign}
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Depending on the value of $\sign x$, $y$ will take the following values:
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(On the other hand, see \DeclareMathOperator won't take arguments for times to use \newcommand, and how best to do so. As noted there, if you do define your own commands, use \operatorname not \text to format the name.)
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1There are a lot of us who are our own publisher so we often find ourselves trying to mull over what is the standard, or most advantageous, way to write something. (I'd guess that the great majority of documents never get to a traditional publisher, personally.) – Jim Hefferon Dec 2 '14 at 11:27
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True enough, @JimHefferon; but that question is subjective: at best off-topic for this forum, at worst completely unanswerable. – J. C. Salomon Dec 2 '14 at 16:41
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The question of whether to use "sgn" or "sign" is not entirely subjective: the ISO 80000-2 standard says it should be "sgn".
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2That iso standard is just nonsense, it also tells strange unit usage about plots etc. It is entirely subjective and not even well designed. Math notation starndard idea itself is already subjective enough. – percusse Oct 2 '15 at 16:29
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3@yo' That standard is actually from mathematicians :) Engineers never define standards to stuff that is not standardizable. Otherwise we all would be driving Lada Samara looking cars. And yes we are gods of this earth. – percusse Oct 2 '15 at 16:57
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1@percusse Well, there are more such "standards", like tangent (choose
tanortg), arcus sine (choosearc\,sin,arcsinorsin^{-1}), etc. :-) – yo' Oct 2 '15 at 16:59 -
1@yo' I agree, the mathematical functions have standards, even in LaTeX, and it is sad that Donald didn't defined a TeX
sgnfunction. But even more sad it is that no package has such a function yet (the people ofamsmathcould add it!). So I think the question is pertinent and 9 more people think the same. :) – loved.by.Jesus Feb 19 '16 at 16:52
\DeclareMathOperator{\sgn}{sgn}after you've loadedamsmath. – Bernard Dec 2 '14 at 0:26\newcommand{\sign}{\text{sgn}}? If so, I think your question is off-topic for this site as it is about notation rather than how to produce it. – cfr Dec 2 '14 at 0:26\DeclareMathOperator\sign{sign}. And, as an extra, that lets you change the name; if you prefer to usesgnyou just change the definition to\DeclareMathOperator\sign{sgn}. – Manuel Dec 2 '14 at 0:26\text{...}! Use\DeclareMathOperator{\sgn}{sgn}instead. Edit: too slow... – JBantje Dec 2 '14 at 0:29