# PDFLaTeX: changing the font type of the Greek mathematical symbols in formula

Which options do I have to modify the font that PDFLaTeX used to typeset Greek letters in mathematical formulas?

For example:

\textgreek{mvopr} is textgreek' and $\mu\nu\omicron\pi\rho$ is a formula

gives

I do not like the standard rendering of Greek symbols too much. Please note I am not interested in

Happy to be corrected and provide additional info.

You can use any math font package and its options (such as slantedgreek). The isomath package allows you to select any OML-encoded math font as one of your math alphabets, or you can use the LaTeX kernel’s \DeclareMathAlphabet for this. The isomath manual has a reasonably-comprehensive list of available fonts that support OML.

Additionally, mathastext allows you to select any LGR-encoded 8-bit font as your Greek math alphabet, with any math version. Check out the LaTeX Font Catalogue.

It’s more work, but there are tools to re-encode any TrueType or OpenType font into legacy 8-bit TeX encodings usable with PDFTeX.

### Examples

This MWE uses GFS Porson as the Greek math font. From roughly the 1920s to the 1960s, Porson was a common Greek companion font to Monotype Modern, on which DEK based Computer Modern. You’ll notice how similar the shapes are to the default TeX Greek symbols.

\documentclass{article}
\tracinglostchars=2
\usepackage[LGR,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[LGRgreek, italic]{mathastext}

\MTgreekfont{porson}
\Mathastext
% Can also declare \MTgreekfont for each \MTDeclareVersion

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
$(x, y, z) \to ( \rho, \phi, \theta )$
\end{document}


The following is an extremely-contrived example of defining an upright bold-sans-serif math version, to match the formatting of a section header, using GFS Complutum as the matching math font. (If you are ever stuck trying to do this in PDFTeX, you might try Arev, a heavy sans-serif font that comes in OML.)

\documentclass{article}
\tracinglostchars=2
\usepackage[LGR,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[LGRgreek,subdued]{mathastext}

\MTgreekfont{complutum}
\MTDeclareVersion[n]{sansbold}{T1}{cmbr}{bx}{n}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}
\Mathastextversion{sansbold}
\section{\normalfont\fontfamily{cmbr}\bfseries\selectfont%
From $$x$$ and $$y$$ to $$\theta$$ and $$\phi$$%
}
\Mathastextversion{normal}

We can map $$(x,y,z) \to (\rho,\theta,\phi)$$.
\end{document}


• Thanks, intriguing. A follow-up question is: where did you pick up the porson font family for example? If I look for it in the LaTeX font catalogue (type porson site:https://www.tug.org/FontCatalogue/ in your browser search box) I cannot find anything. In other words, at this point I would like to choose my favourite Greek font. Where can I get to know their names and preview them? Jul 1, 2020 at 13:42
• @XavierStuvw You can check out the font-greek category on CTAN. You can also search your TeX installation for files that match the pattern lgr*.fd and oml*.fd`. Jul 2, 2020 at 4:44