Padding around elements in a matrix

Is it possible to adjust the padding around elements in a matrix, as indicated in the figure below.

The code is shown below

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

... in general we have

$$\begin{bmatrix} \frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_1} & \cdots & \frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_n} \\ \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ \frac{\partial f_m}{\partial x_1} & \cdots & \frac{\partial f_m}{\partial x_n} \end{bmatrix}$$

and for the particular case of $m=n=2$

$$\begin{bmatrix} \frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_1} & \frac{\partial f_1}{\partial x_2} \\ \frac{\partial f_2}{\partial x_1} & \frac{\partial f_2}{\partial x_2} \end{bmatrix}$$

Is it possible to insert some space around the elements in (2)? The matrix looks a bit cramped.

\end{document}

• The cellspace package wiith option [math] does that. Sep 20, 2020 at 9:29
• The package nicematrix provides tools to control that and also many other points. Sep 20, 2020 at 9:48

Here's a code with cellspace. Unrelated: I suggest using the diffcoeff package to simplify typing of partial derivatives, and the \medmath command from nccmath to have medium-sized fractions in matrices (the default is \tfrac):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, nccmath}
\usepackage{diffcoeff}
\usepackage[math]{cellspace}
\setlength{\cellspacetoplimit}{2pt}
\setlength{\cellspacebottomlimit}{2pt}

\begin{document}

$J = \begin{pmatrix} \medmath{\diffp{f_1}{x_1}} & \medmath{\diffp{f_1}{x_2}} \\ \medmath{\diffp{f_2}{x_1}} & \medmath{\diffp{f_2}{x_2}} \end{pmatrix}$

\end{document}