# Cannot make bigger parentheses with \left \right

I try making my second pair of parenthesis bigger to match the picture using:

$$= p+(1-p)\left(1+ \mathbf E [X]\right)$$


Somehow, that doesn't work. Can someone point out my error?

• note you should not use $$ in latex, there is no reason to enlarge the () here and latex does not by default but you could use \bigl(1+...\bigr) to force a larger size – David Carlisle Jan 10 '20 at 17:46 • @DavidCarlisle, I am using MathJax actually. – J. Doe Jan 10 '20 at 18:02 • Amazing! Your solution works! Thanks. – J. Doe Jan 10 '20 at 18:03 • even with mathjax $ rather than  is the default – David Carlisle Jan 10 '20 at 18:05 • @DavidCarlisle Not really. For instance, in Math.SE one has to use . Or \\[ and \$ – egreg Jan 10 '20 at 18:17 ## 2 Answers Note you should not use $$ in latex, there is no reason to enlarge the () here and latex does not by default but you could use

\bigl(1+...\bigr)


to force a larger size

• Thank you! I was copying from a note, and wish to match the original text as much as possible. – J. Doe Jan 11 '20 at 7:18

A similar answer is in the following link. You can choose between the following options: \bigl, \Bigl and \Biggl . For example

$$\Biggl( \Bigl( \bigl((a+b)^2\bigr)^2 \Bigr)^2 \Biggr)^2$$


the output is:

more Brackets and Parentheses in link

• There's also \vert and \Vert, which end up being | and ||, respectively. The advantage of the former is that there's also \lvert, \rvert, \lVert, and \rVert, which end up being | and ||, but having the appropriate interpretation of "left/right delimiter" which helps with the spacing. – Teepeemm Jan 10 '20 at 20:57
• Thank you for a barrage of an answer, gent! – J. Doe Jan 11 '20 at 7:19