# Poster, tcolorbox, and small math font size

I don't know why, but the math equation looks very small in my tcolorbox poster. Any idea why?

Thanks!

MWE:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % To switch to the T1 encoding
% \usepackage{lmodern} % To switch to Latin Modern
\usepackage{palatino}
\usepackage{amssymb, amsthm, amsmath}

\usepackage[a0paper]{geometry}
\usepackage[poster,most]{tcolorbox}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
\begin{tcbposter}[
coverage = {
% interior style={top color=yellow,bottom color=yellow!50!red},
top=25mm, bottom=25mm, left=15mm, right=15mm,
},
poster   = {showframe=false,columns=3,rows=5,spacing=13mm},
boxes    = {
enhanced standard jigsaw,sharp corners=downhill,
arc=10mm, boxrule=2mm,
coltitle=black!85,
boxsep=0pt,
top=15mm,bottom=15mm,right=15mm,left=15mm,
colback=white,opacityback=0.75,colframe=cyan!30!white!90!black,
title style={left color=cyan!20!white!90!black,
right color=cyan!20!white!90!black,
},
fonttitle=\Large\scshape\bfseries,
valign=center,
},
fontsize = 36pt
]

\posterbox[blankest,interior engine=path,height=10cm,
halign=center,valign=center,colupper=black,
]{name=title,column=1,span=3,below=top}{
{\Huge\bf\textsc{I Want A Title With\\[.3em]
Small Caps Enabled}}\\[.3em]
\textsc{Here are Some Names}
}

{name=security,below=title,column=2,span=1}{
I am some text, and here is a formula $hc(x,r) = \sum x_i r_i \bmod 2$, isn't it strange to have such a small formula?
$$hc(x,r) = \sum x_i r_i \bmod 2$$
}

\end{tcbposter}
\end{document}


-- EDIT -- Using \usepackage[bitstream-charter]{mathdesign} as proposed in comments works indeed (thanks!), but this font is a bit too different from the default one. The lmodern font on the other side gives an ugly sum symbol:

• The math font you are currently using is not available in the size you want. A quick workaround could be to comment in the lmodern and use this for math font – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Nov 12 '18 at 22:02
• Personally I would combine palatino with a math font which is a bit heavier, for example \usepackage{amssymb, amsthm, amsmath} \usepackage[bitstream-charter]{mathdesign} \usepackage{palatino} – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Nov 12 '18 at 22:07
• @samcarter thanks for the comments. if I comment in lmodern, the \sum symbol looks ugly and really small (less than a letter) – tobiasBora Nov 12 '18 at 22:23
• @samcarter : and the mathdesign shape indeed works, thanks! But I'm curious, is there a resizable math font that looks closer to the default one? – tobiasBora Nov 12 '18 at 22:25
• If you want to stay close at the default look, I'd use lmodern and fix the sum symbol size with the exscale package – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Nov 12 '18 at 22:26

The problem is that the default math font you are using is not available in the size you request it. As a workaround use a math font with is scalable to this size.

If you want to keep the look of the default math font, you could comment in the lmodern package you already have in your preamble and fix some remaining problems with the exscale package:

\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{palatino}
\usepackage{exscale}


Personally I would combine your palatino font with a math font which is a bit heavier

\usepackage{amssymb, amsthm, amsmath}
\usepackage[bitstream-charter]{mathdesign}
\usepackage{palatino}


Or use a similar font which also provides math. This will also save you from using the outdated palatino package.

\usepackage{newpxtext,newpxmath}


• Isn't the use of palatino discouraged (l2tabu)? – TeXnician Nov 13 '18 at 11:41
• @TeXnician Could very well be. I'll stress more to use \usepackage{newpxtext,newpxmath} instead. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Nov 13 '18 at 11:43
• @TeXnician what's the problem with palatino? Not that I'm using it, but I'm curious nonetheless. – thymaro Nov 13 '18 at 12:21
• @thymaro Please read the section in l2tabu. I just know that the authors of l2tabu mostly know what they are writing about. – TeXnician Nov 13 '18 at 21:09
• @TeXnician right. That's actually what I did after posting the comment. I should have done that before, though. I should probably read the whole document again, now that my understanding of TeX has grown. Last time I read it, I didn't quite grasp its reach. – thymaro Nov 13 '18 at 21:12