# Thicker line for minus sign and plus sign

Most of the times the minus sign in my documents is so thin and so short that I have a hard time seeing it on a printed copy. Is there a way to alter the thickness of the line for the minus sign (and, for matching purposes, the plus sign also)?

• Do you plan to tell us anything at all about your existing documents which might enable us to advise you on possible modifications? – cfr Jul 11 '15 at 21:49
• @Diegis :- The look and feel of a character is a decision of the font designer and the general advice is: if one doesn't like the look of a font, then use another font. In special cases it is also possible to exchange one glyph, but you should give more information about the font and your engine – AboAmmar Jul 11 '15 at 22:27
• If the minus sign is short, I suspect you're not in math mode, and your ‘minus’ sign is actually a dash, as used to break words at the end of lines. – Bernard Jul 12 '15 at 0:55

Here's one way to do it:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bm} % for the \boldsymbol
\begin{document}

$\boldsymbol{+}$
$+$
$\boldsymbol{-}$
$-$
\newcommand{\pl}{\boldsymbol{+}}
$\pl$
\newcommand{\mi}{\boldsymbol{-} \mathrel{\mkern -16mu} \boldsymbol{-}}
$\mi$

% By increasing 'mu' you can shorten the minus sign.
\end{document}


I used How can I get bold math symbols? for obtaining thicker math symbols and I also used Joining characters in latex with no visible space between them to extend the minus sign (although you can slightly tell it has been overlapped, which doesn't seem perfect). The new command definitions make it more convenient for you to use.

• The \mi "minus" symbol is absurdly long, and looks like either an en-dash or even an em-dash. If one must bold-face the symbol, I'd stick with $\boldsymbol{-}$. – Mico Jul 12 '15 at 17:45