# Is there a way to get “dumb” single quote in math mode?

In mathmode, ' gets converted to "prime" symbol. What I'd like is neither the closing nor opening single quote as in (How to get the closing single quote in math mode). Rather, how do I get an unslanted neutral single quote in mathmode?

To avoid any XY problem, I state here problem X:

I am typesetting a document that uses Mathematica's font using the wrisym package. After \usepackage{wrisym}, I can access all the Mathematica font in math-mode using \mathversion{monobold}. But sometimes, I need the character that you get when you type ' in the front end of the notebook, which is not the prime character. How do I get LaTeX to output the unslanted ' character.

EDIT Many thanks for everyone's prompt answers. Please read below for a clear formulation of my problem.

\documentclass[a4,10pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb}

\usepackage[uprightmonomath]{wrisym}

\DeclareMathVersion{monobold}
\SetSymbolFont{letters}{monobold}{OML}{wcrum}{b}{n}
\SetSymbolFont{operators}{monobold}{OT1}{wcrr}{b}{n}
\SetSymbolFont{symbols}{monobold}{OMS}{wcry}{b}{n}

\begin{document}

normal math:
$x y z$

Mathematica text:
\mathversion{monobold}$\sqrt{x}$\mathversion{normal}

symbol then quote:
\mathversion{monobold}$x'$\mathversion{normal}

\end{document}


generates:

Inputing the last two lines in Mathematica, it looks like:

Notice that the ' character looks different in LaTeX than in the Mathematica notebook, because (I believe) it has been converted to a prime.

How do I get the raw ' character in Mathematica font to appear in LaTeX so that it better approximates what appears in the Mathematica notebook?

• Maybe \textrm{'}, as in $A' \ne A\textrm{'}$ – Steven B. Segletes Jul 6 '16 at 13:28
• Should this be in textmode? Maybe you could show us an example of expected output? – Runar Jul 6 '16 at 13:29
• @StevenB.Segletes I cannot access the special fonts in text mode (which is why \textrm{'} doesn't work). – QuantumDot Jul 6 '16 at 13:32
• Then how about \setbox0=\hbox{'}$A' \ne A\box0$? – Steven B. Segletes Jul 6 '16 at 13:34
• This comment won't bring any answer, but this seems more a font design question than a LaTeX question to me. In general, it seems straight single quote signs are more common in fixed width fonts. Furthermore, from the space between x and ' in your last example, it seems to me that your output uses such a font (I can't test, I don't use mathematica). Lastly, from the very low quality images on this page I conclude that mathematica uses a very ordinary single quote sign for derivatives. – Christoph Frings Jul 6 '16 at 17:16

I really doubt this is correct usage, but here is a solution using the textcomp-package.

Output

Code

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{mathtools,textcomp}
\begin{document}

$$x\textnormal{\textquotesingle}$$
\end{document}

• Probably \textnormal is better. – egreg Jul 6 '16 at 23:48

Wether you define a command, and use it

\newcommand*\q{\mathchar'}
$a\q b$


or if you want all ' to give you the usual single text quote, you change the mathcode of ' to not being “math-active” (active means \mathcode'="8000).

\mathcode'=' % this seems to work, but I'm not sure it's the perfect way
$a'b$

• @QuantumDot It's not entirely clear to me if this is what you want, if you want the “upquote”, you can change the definition of the active ' to whatever you want that outputs the upquote. You should edit your question and add some code or image. – Manuel Jul 6 '16 at 13:48
• I have expanded my question under "EDIT". Perhaps it clearly explains what I'm looking for. – QuantumDot Jul 6 '16 at 14:41
• I think I came up with an alternative way to find what I need, but I need some help: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/318358/… – QuantumDot Jul 7 '16 at 8:12
• Use \xfonttable as Ulrike said (and with other math encodings), and look for hte position of the glyph. If you pass a screenshot of the font table we can help you. – Manuel Jul 7 '16 at 9:47
• Post the answer here in that case, or add the screenshot and we can add an answer that lets ' give you the glyph you want. – Manuel Jul 7 '16 at 10:37