How to put the asterisk on the end of max function rather than right above it

Question

I am writing my report using TeXnicCenter, and it has been going very well.

However, I want to write max* in the equation mode, but all i code get is the asterisk right about the a in max

if I write $\max*$ in normal inline equation I get what I want which is max*. but when I write it using the equation command which is

\begin{equation} \label{eq:a}
\max^{*}(a,b)
\end{equation}

I get max(a,b) and the astrik is right above 'a', like I am using \limits. using \mbox will put the asterisk way after the max.

this is an image showing my dilemma, it shows what I want, then what I get for using \mbox{*} then what I get for using \max^*

Answer 1

What you want is a new math operator; however there's a slight TeXnical complication with a naïf \DeclareMathOperator and ^{\ast} should be used instead of ^{*}.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\DeclareMathOperator*{\smax}{max^{\ast}}

\begin{document}

\[
\smax_{(s'\to s)\Rightarrow u_{i}=1}\bigl(\tilde{\delta}_{i}(s',s)\bigr)
\]

\end{document}