# Moving parentheses vertically

I have this equation:

$\text{solve}\left(10^{\displaystyle 0.78478 \cdot\left(\log \left(\frac{m}{173.961}\right)\right)^{2}}=1.2,m\right)\triangleright m=83.7164$


As you can probably see, there is a row of empty space at the bottom of the bracket, which makes the brackets unnecessarily large. I was wondering if it is possible to either make the brackets more fitting, or move them up a little, which would make the space even on the top and at the bottom.

A possible solution could also be to move everything but the brackets down a notch. However, if this is done, it would still be essential for the rest of the text to be aligned with the things inside the brackets.

If anyone has an alternative solution that would look better, feel free to send that also! :)

• Your code doesn't compile at present, as there's the text-mode-only command \huge inside math material. Please make your code compilable. – Mico Oct 22 at 19:11
• Oh, my bad. I'll fix it now! :) – Nikolai Oct 22 at 19:29
• you still have only provided a fragment, pleas always post complete test documents – David Carlisle Oct 22 at 20:02

Here you are, with pmatrix. I added a better-looking variant, with medium-sized exponents:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, nccmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
& \text{solve}\raisebox{1.5ex}{$\begin{pmatrix}10^{\displaystyle 0.78478 \cdot\left(\log \left(\frac{m}{173.961}\right)\right)^{\!2}}=1.2,m\end{pmatrix}$}\triangleright m=83.7164
\2ex] & \text{solve}\raisebox{1.05ex}{ \begin{pmatrix}10^{\medmath{0.78478 \cdot\left(\log \left(\frac{m}{173.961}\right)\right)^{\!2}}}=1.2,m\end{pmatrix} }\triangleright m=83.7164 \end{align*} \end{document}  • @Mico: you're right, \displaystyle is enough. It gave me the idea to propose a version with a mediums sized exponent, which looks better, in my opinion – the exponent is clearly identified as such, while being quite readable. – Bernard Oct 22 at 20:47 • Great! The medium sized one that you added is perfect. Just the thing i was looking for! – Nikolai Oct 22 at 21:09 The brackets should be centred on the math axis, raising them makes the expression look distorted and hard to read. The apparent extra space is simply due to the brackets being a lot bigger than necessary. I would use one of the following layouts \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb} \begin{document} normal \[ \operatorname{solve} \bigl(10^{0.78478 \cdot (\log \frac{m}{173.961})^{2}} =1.2,m\bigr) \triangleright m=83.7164

bigger fraction
$\operatorname{solve} \bigl(10^{0.78478 \cdot \bigl(\log \tfrac{m}{173.961}\bigr)^{\!2}} =1.2,m\bigr) \triangleright m=83.7164$
\end{document}


Also note that you should not use \text for a function name, it has the wrong spacing and uses the current text font so for example it would be italic in a theorem.

Here's a solution that doesn't raise the exponent term above the baseline. Just make sure to explain to your readers that ^ (generated by \widehat{\phantom{t}}) is the exponentiation operator.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,mleftright}
\mleftright
\begin{document}
$\text{solve } \left(10 \widehat{\phantom{t}} \mkern-1.5mu \left[ 0.78478 \cdot \left(\log \frac{m}{173.961}\right)^{2}\right] =1.2,m\right) \triangleright m=83.7164$
\end{document}

• Other ways of lowering the exponent would be to use arrow notation or by using the power function. – hkBst Oct 23 at 14:56
• @hkBst - Absolutely correct. – Mico Oct 23 at 15:34