# Fonts used in SVMult package - problem with \mathcal

I am using SVMult class (Springer package for contributed books). By default the document includes the following packages:

\usepackage{mathptmx}       % selects Times Roman as basic font
\usepackage{helvet}         % selects Helvetica as sans-serif font
\usepackage{courier}        % selects Courier as typewriter font
\usepackage{type1cm}        % activate if the above 3 fonts are
% not available on your system


Using these settings, when formatting the mathematics part with \mathcal, the fonts are too much curvy and almost impossible to read in a glance, for instance I would have something like this:

How is it possible to use \mathcal with better results, while having minimum change in the settings. I expect result similar to ieeeconf class.

A small MWE:

\documentclass[graybox]{svmult}

\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage{courier}
\usepackage{type1cm}
\begin{document}

\title*{Title}
\author{Me}
\section{sect-1}
This is the math, $\mathcal{P},\mathcal{O},\mathcal{W},\mathcal{F}$.
\end{document}

• You are talking about "better results" but this appears as a matter of taste to me. These letters look great... So you have to tell us, what you would like to get. Do you think, you are having some misbehaviour here? If not, please reduce the code to a minimum (one calligraphic letter as in your image) and give us an image of what it should look like. Here are many posts on how to change fonts in math. What have you tried, where do you fail...? – LaRiFaRi Dec 22 '14 at 14:26
• The question is, "are there any other options without removing/adding other packages?". As I mentioned in the question, I expect something less curvy like ieeeconf class. In case there is no better option, what is the minimum possible change to get expected results? – NKN Dec 22 '14 at 14:28
• Are you allowed to do this? Generally, publishers provide templates because they want the results to conform to a particular look and they do not want authors making such decisions themselves. That said, the template says to activate type1cm only if the other packages aren't available. So, you should have that package commented out anyway. – cfr Dec 22 '14 at 15:47

If you do not like the caligraphics from mathptmx, you will have to remove this package or redefine its mathcal-font. This can be done like the following:

% arara: pdflatex

\documentclass{article} % as your problem can be reproduced by a standard class, you should always give your MWE with such. Make it easier for us.
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\DeclareMathAlphabet{\mathcal}{OMS}{cmsy}{m}{n}
\usepackage{mathtools} % for \text{}

\begin{document}
\section{sect-1}
This is the math, $\mathcal{P}_\text{Pick},\mathcal{O},\mathcal{W},\mathcal{F}$.
\end{document}