# Lining up sub and superscripts

I'm trying to typeset some (extended) Sweedler notation (if you want context); something like

${{b_{(1)}}^{(1)}}_{(1)}$


This trick of enclosing things in more and more curly brackets seems to work fine for one subscript and one superscript, but in this example with three indices, we get:

Notice that the 3rd index is lower than the 1st.

What would be a better way to typeset this?

• your third subscript is subscripting b_{(1)} so has to be lower, you could simply use b {}_{(1)} {}^{(1)} {}_{(1)} Jul 10 '20 at 18:26

${{b_{(1)}}^{(1)}}{}_{(1)}$


In your code, the second subscript is appended to the entire preceding formula, hence it is placed lower than anything in that formula. So, I just appended that second subscript to empty brackets instead, and it seems to deliver:

• Yes, of course! Thankyou. Jul 10 '20 at 19:30

You can use the tensor package:

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

\begin{document}

$\tensor{b}{^{(1)}_{(1)}^{(1)}}$

\end{document}