# Is there any way to make lowercase \chi bigger?

I was just wondering if it's possible to make lower case \chi bigger.

Basically I want the equation \chi^2_0 = \frac{1}{2} to have more space between the 2 and 0 like all the textbooks have but the \chi I get is tiny and so the 2 and 0 basically read like 20 vertically, is there a way to fix this/make it nicer? (I'm guessing there is since every stats textbook ever seems to be able to do it)

You could play around with the regular text adjustments or by using \scalebox{<factor>}{<stuff>} from the graphicx package in the following way:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\usepackage{graphicx}% http://ctan.org/pkg/graphicx
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
\chi^2_0 =& \tfrac{1}{2} \\
\mbox{\Large$\chi$}^2_0 =& \tfrac{1}{2} \\
\scalebox{1.5}{$\chi$}^2_0 =& \tfrac{1}{2}
\end{align*}
\end{document}


amsmath was just used for the align* and \tfrac functionality. If cluttering your input is a problem, you can put this in a macro (here I've chosen the first enlargement style):

\newcommand*{\bigchi}{\mbox{\Large$\chi$}}% big chi


and use it as \bigchi=\frac{1}{2}. You can play around with different font sizes or scaling values.

• Thanks, just what I wanted, bigger Chi. Never knew about scalebox. – inTide Oct 21 '11 at 13:36

Exponents are set at the same height for all characters: there's no difference in height between $\chi_0^2$ and $X_0^2$. This is a good thing.

Exponents are set higher when the formula is in display math mode: compare $\chi_0^2$ and $\chi_0^2$.

A simple way to accomplish what you want would be to manually specify a smaller size for the subscript and superscript. A before and after comparison:

Changing the size of the \chi in inline mode would probbaly have an issue with the surrounding text.

\documentclass[border=3pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\centering% used to center the inline display to produce a simpler image for presentation here
Inline mode: $\chi^2_0 = \chi^{\scriptscriptstyle 2}_{\scriptscriptstyle 0}$

$\text{Display mode: } \chi^2_0 = \chi^{\scriptscriptstyle 2}_{\scriptscriptstyle 0}$
\end{document}