\left ... \right make different sizes in numerator and denominator

I noticed that the commands \left\| ... \right\| don't always generate brackets of the same size, even when the content is the same. Example:

The code \frac{\left\|A^{-1}\right\|}{\left\|A^{-1}\right\|} yields this:

Clearly, the bars are larger in the numerator, although the code is identical. Is there a nice way to prevent this?

• I recommend you to use \bigl \bigr or \Bigl \Bigr instead. Jul 31, 2019 at 13:01
• But this is slightly annoying. \left and \right exist precisely so I don't have to think about size all the time. Isn't there any way to automate this such that same content gives same size brackets? Jul 31, 2019 at 13:05
• I'd even drop left/right here, there is no need for them Jul 31, 2019 at 13:06
• @Frank that is not correct, autoscaling should be left for certain situations, for example this looks bad: \left(\sum_j \right), you'll also often run into problems when used in text mode, they grow too large and disturb line spacing. Jul 31, 2019 at 13:07
• I don't obtain this result. Could you please post a full code reproducing the problem? Jul 31, 2019 at 13:18

the denominator is set in "cramped" style in which the exponent is lower, which has an effect on the left-right size, it is often best to use manual size \left\right has an adverse effect on horizontal spacing, even when it does not stretch the delimiters. here you could use \bigl\| or simply \|

• Much better is \lVert and \rVert Jul 31, 2019 at 14:48
• @egreg I wondered about mentioning that but separate issue and while they are better in general, not going to make any difference here is it, with just a single term Jul 31, 2019 at 15:11

I simply add a response to generate brackets of the same size. I hope my code is clear. If there are some comments I am available.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\norm}{\lVert}{\rVert}
\begin{document}
$\frac{\norm{A^{-1}}}{\norm{A^{-1}}}$
\end{document}