# Make equation look nicer

I have an equation which has a fraction to the power of another fraction. The fraction in the power is really small. I tried using \cfrac to change the size of that fraction but then the constant and exponential at the start of the equation became too small compared to the rest of the equation.

What is the best way to make this equation look good? Here is a MWE.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{geometry}

\begin{document}

$$\rho(T) = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\frac{1}{d+1}}\right]$$

\end{document}


A larger size for the exponent can be used, e.g. via \tfrac. Or the fraction expression can be written with a slash:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{geometry}

\begin{document}

$$\rho(T) = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\tfrac{1}{d+1}}\right]$$
$$\rho(T) = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{1/(d+1)}\right]$$

\end{document}


• The use of \tfrac does the trick. Many thanks! – Shawn P Apr 8 '16 at 19:44

There is no single "best" way to make an equation look "good".

For the equation at hand, I'd like to suggest you use "inline" or "slash" fractional notation. That way, T will be rendered at "textstyle" size and symbols in the subscripts and the superscripts will be rendered at "scriptstyle" size.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
$\rho(T) = \rho_{0} \exp\Bigl[(T_{0}/T)^{1/(d+1)}\Bigr]$
\end{document}


\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{nicefrac}

\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
\rho(T) & = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\tfrac{1}{d+1}}\right]\\
\rho(T) & = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\frac{1}{d+1}}\right]\\
\rho(T) & = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\nicefrac{1}{(d+1)}}\right]\\
\rho(T) & = \rho_{0}\exp\left[\left(\frac{T_{0}}{T}\right)^{\nicefrac[\scriptstyle]{1}{(d+1)}}\right]
\end{align*}

\end{document}