# How to get Beamer Math to look like Article Math

In a LaTeX article, the math characters are more "curvy" than the text characters:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\begin{document}
$x^2 + y^2 = z^2$
\end{document}


In a beamer presentation, the math characters do not have the same curves:

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
$x^2 + y^2 = z^2$
\end{frame}
\end{document}


## Question

How can I get the beamer math to look just like the article math?

I would prefer if the solution was a single line (that I could place at the top of my LaTeX file) as opposed to something that needs to appear next to every piece of math.

• Just a minor point: it is generally felt to be easier to read sans serif fonts when projected than serif fonts so the lack of curves is there for a reason. – Loop Space Nov 9 '11 at 21:37
• @Andrew Sure, but I think that it is too difficult to tell the difference between what is text and what is math, especially when people are used to the mathserif font LaTeX articles but don't see that font on the slides. – Tyson Williams Nov 9 '11 at 21:45
• Agreed. I wasn't saying Don't ever do this but rather This is there for a reason. People reading this question might not realise that there is a reason for this choice and decide to change their maths to serif simply because that's what they're used to. I happen to use colours to get round this problem so I'm in full agreement that it's good to do something to distinguish the maths from the text. – Loop Space Nov 10 '11 at 7:48
• Something more complicated. The colour says what it is. On the basis that a picture paints a thousand words, you can take a look at my beamer slides at the following URL: mathsnotes.math.ntnu.no/mathsnotes/show/lecture+notes+2011 – Loop Space Nov 12 '11 at 18:51
• @AndrewStacey, slightly off-topic, but do you find that the cyan projects well? I remember a colloquium with colour-coded equations, and the important bit was in green on white and nobody could read it, even in the front row. – Chris H Feb 20 '14 at 10:15

Add \usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif} to your preamble. That is,

\documentclass{beamer}% http://ctan.org/pkg/beamer
\usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
$x^2 + y^2 = z^2$
\end{frame}
\end{document}


For both text and math in Computer Modern, use the serif document class option. Other combination of font selection is also possible. See http://math.ecnu.edu.cn/~latex/slides/beamer/MathFonts.pdf for a nicely compiled collection.

Older versions (prior to v3.33) supported the class option \documentclass[mathserif]{beamer}.

• +1, although I don't recommend this option that makes math conflict with the overall aspect of the presentation. – egreg Nov 9 '11 at 21:39
• @egreg, what do you mean by the "conflict with the overall aspect of the presentation". It works perfectly for me and looks great. – Alan Turing May 22 '13 at 20:52
• @Lex Mixing "serif math" with a sans serif text font is something I wouldn't even think to use. – egreg May 22 '13 at 20:54
• IM(unqualified)O this can look smarter than the class between different sans serif fonts that often happens because there aren't many full maths sans serif options, and the body is set in something else. – Chris H Feb 20 '14 at 10:18
• This class option is obsolete as of beamer v3.33. As recommended by the warning message, use \usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif} instead in the current version of beamer. – Paul Gessler Jul 25 '14 at 18:21

Alternatively, you can include

\usefonttheme{professionalfonts}


inside the

mode<presentation>{...}


environment.

• Actually this solution worked better for me: using the "serif" option does not properly replace the \nu-resembling "v" with the amsart curvy one. – Brightsun Mar 25 '15 at 11:16