A symbol for the quotient of two objects

Question

One often needs a symbol to denote the quotient of two (algebraic) objects (e.g. quotient by a subgroup, subring, submodule etc.). In simple cases people use A/B. But when both A and B are complicated to write, this doesn't look good. e.g. \mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}/\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}

For some reason, people do not use just \frac{A}{B}. Is there some way to achieve the following:

$A$ raised a bit, then \Big/ then $B$ a bit lowered.

Answer 1

How about using \left, \right, and \raisebox?

\newcommand{\bigslant}[2]{{\raisebox{.2em}{$#1$}\left/\raisebox{-.2em}{$#2$}\right.}}

\begin{equation}
\bigslant{\mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}}{\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}}
\end{equation}

which gives

The only problem is that I need to re-enter mathmode inside the \raiseboxes. Anyone know how to avoid that?

Answer 2

If you want to invoke the Someone Else's Problem principle, there's also the faktor package, which ostensibly was designed to do what you want, and which implements using the AMS symbol \diagup. But IMHO the slash is a bit small.

For in-line expressions, you can also consider the nicefrac package, which makes both the "denominator" and "numerator" small.

Answer 3

As already mentioned, there are two packages to solve this problem:

• xfrac - typeset fractions in the form n/d generally
• faktor - especially to typeset factor structures

Here is a comparison between the \sfrac{n}{d} and \faktor{n}{d} commands which also demonstrates how they behave in comparison to normal text:

\documentclass[12pt,preview, border={2pt,2pt,2pt,2pt}]{standalone}
\usepackage[english]{babel}    
\usepackage{xfrac}    
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage[amsmath,thmmarks,standard]{ntheorem}
\usepackage{faktor}

\begin{document}
\begin{alignat*}{4}
\text{This } &\sfrac{\mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}}{\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}} &\text{ and this } &\sfrac{\mathcal{S}^n}{\equiv_m} &\text{ and this } &\sfrac{A}{B} &&\text{ is \texttt{sfrac}.}\\
\text{This } &\faktor{\mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}}{\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}} &\text{ and this } &\faktor{\mathcal{S}^n}{\equiv_m} &\text{ and this } &\faktor{A}{B} &&\text{ is \texttt{faktor}.}
\end{alignat*}
\end{document}

Answer 4

I would try with $^{a}/_{b}$, or, based in your example

$^{\mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}}/_{\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}}$

Also it is possible to do $^{a}\Big/_{b}$.

Answer 5

Something like:

\documentclass{article}

\def\quotient#1#2{%
    \raise1ex\hbox{$#1$}\Big/\lower1ex\hbox{$#2$}%
}

\begin{document}
\[
\quotient{\mathcal{O}_{(V',0)}}{\mathcal{O}_{(V,0)}}
\]
\end{document}

Update, here is a real plain example:

\def\quotient#1#2{%
    \raise1ex\hbox{$#1$}\Big/\lower1ex\hbox{$#2$}%
}

$$
\quotient{{\cal O}_{(V',0)}}{{\cal O}_{(V,0)}}
$$
\bye

Answer 6

I like Eduardo's answer, but with properly sized numerators/denominators.

(Note the double set of braces in the definition for proper spacing. The outer pair will disappear on use, and without the second set, it will place the quotient smack up against whatever's to the left, trying to make it a superscript.)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%% For quotient groups / modding equiv relations
%%%% Use: \quot{A}{B} --> A/B
\newcommand*\quot[2]{{^{\textstyle #1}\big/_{\textstyle #2}}}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
\text{Reference size: }A
     \quad ^{A}\big/_{B}
    &\quad \quot{A}{B}
     \quad ^{\textstyle A}\Big/_{\textstyle B}\\
\text{Reference size: }E
     \quad ^{E}\big/_{\sim}
    &\quad \quot{E}{\sim}
     \quad ^{\textstyle E}\Big/_{\textstyle \sim}
\end{align*}
\end{document}

Answer 7

I give a very small amelioration which takes care of the different math styles.

% Source : http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/4624/a-symbol-for-the-quotient-of-two-objects

\documentclass[10pt,a4paper]{article}
    \usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
    \usepackage{ucs}
    \usepackage{amsmath}
    \usepackage{amsfonts}
    \usepackage{amssymb}

    \newcommand\quotient[2]{
        \mathchoice
            {% \displaystyle
                \text{\raise1ex\hbox{$#1$}\Big/\lower1ex\hbox{$#2$}}%
            }
            {% \textstyle
                #1\,/\,#2
            }
            {% \scriptstyle
                #1\,/\,#2
            }
            {% \scriptscriptstyle  
                #1\,/\,#2
            }
    }

    \newcommand{\setA}{{\cal O}_{(V',0)}}
    \newcommand{\setB}{{\cal O}_{(V,0)}}

\begin{document}

One formula in one text : $\frac{4}{5} = \quotient{\setA}{\setB}$
and one formula alone...
\[
    \frac{4}{5} = \quotient{\setA}{\setB}
\]


What about quotient of quotients ?
\[
    \quotient{\left( \quotient{\setA}{\setB} \right)}{\left( \quotient{\setA}{\setB} \right)}
\]
Better like this ?
\[
    \quotient{\textstyle \left( \quotient{\setA}{\setB} \right)}{\textstyle \left( \quotient{\setA}{\setB} \right)}
\]

\end{document}