# small capital letters in math environment

I would like to use small capital letters as variables for points in geometry (I want to reserve normal capitals for relation symbols). What I don't like about \scriptstyle is the fact that it not only reduces the size of the letters but also that of the indices and spacing. Writing e.g.

\scriptstyle A\displaystyle_1, \scriptstyle A\displaystyle_2

is quite cumbersome however. The use of brackets {} for the arguments of \scriptstyle are of no use here unfortunately – the code after the brackets stays within the scope of \scriptstyle (till the end of the math environment).

Is there an easier way? Or is there a standard for small caps in math environment?

• Do you want the small-caps letters to be typeset upright or slanted? Which text font and math font families do you employ? – Mico Oct 30 '18 at 11:51
• I think it would be nice to have them slanted. I haven't specified any font families, so they must be the standard ones. What do you think of egreg's solution? – Larry Oct 30 '18 at 12:24

Not sure it's a good idea, but here it is:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\pnt}[1]{{\scriptstyle#1}}

\begin{document}

$\pnt{A}_1\mathrel{X}\pnt{B}_2$

$\pnt{A}\in a$

\end{document}


• This seems to be a good solution. Do you have anything specific in mind when you say you're not sure whether it's a good idea? – Larry Oct 30 '18 at 12:29
• @Larry There's plenty of math alphabets; why not using sans serif for relations? – egreg Oct 30 '18 at 13:23

Why not just \textsc? I believe that this could cause issues if invoked in a smaller math style, but you don't want that anyway, it would seem. NOTE: the small-caps letters are not in italic.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
$\angle ABC \quad\angle \textsc{abc}$
$A_i + B_j = C_k\quad \textsc{a}_i+\textsc{b}_j=\textsc{c}_k$
\end{document}