# How to write pow math?

I want to write math:

{i^{w}}^{anterior}


but this is the result:

I want this :

• ignoring the font or size, you might consider i^{w^{anterior}} as in 2^{2^{3}} = 256 – Henry Feb 20 at 11:29

Embrace the {w^{\mathrm{anterior}}} rather than the {i^{w}}. Also, \mathrm for math-sized text (by "text", I mean phonetic language, not a collection of math symbols).

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
$i^{w^{\mathrm{anterior}}}$
\end{document}


• I would add the admonition: if you don't use \mathrm but simply write anterior without any special control sequence, it is typeset as a product of variables term: a times n times t times e ... not what you want. – Kaz Feb 20 at 7:13
• @Kaz That is what I implied with the word "text", but have clarified, since it caused you some confusion. – Steven B. Segletes Feb 20 at 12:11
• I am obviously not confused in any way myself. – Kaz Feb 20 at 16:02
• @Kaz I am sorry to have implied that. You are trying to help the reader, I understand. – Steven B. Segletes Feb 20 at 16:37
• @ThomasAhle In this case, nothing, except that \text requires the amsmath package. If the operated-upon text had, for example, punctuation, \mathrm would apply the \mathpunct, whereas \text would not. – Steven B. Segletes Feb 21 at 10:51

If I understood you correctly, you want the superscripts have normalsize plus an sf shape, you can use \mbox.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}
\begin{document}

\newcommand{\mb}[1]{\mbox{\sffamily#1\,}}
$\mb{i}^{\mb{w}^{\mb{anterior}}}$

\end{document}


Another good approach is \operatorname{anterior} from amsmath, especially if you want two of these variables to appear consecutively.

Personally, I would prefer to define \newcommand\anterior{\operatorname{anterior}}, analogously to \sin or \log.

In your version {i^{w}}^{anterior}, the i is effectively raised to two separate exponents, causing them to appear side-by-side, which is not what you intend:

If you nest the braces as {i^{w^{anterior}}} then the stack of exponents is preserved, resulting in what appears to be your desired form:

(This is assuming it's stacked exponents that you're concerned with, not plain text formatting for superscripts as your example image might suggest. In that case, use AboAmmar's version.)