# How to increase spacing of uppercase subscript

In one equation, I am changing my notation from the one on the left to the one on the right, which uses a right subscript. Especially compared to the initial version, the spacing for the subscript does not look good to me: it's too high and too close to the letter. It's also unbalanced compared to the superscript. How can I fix this?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bm}
\begin{document}
\begin{displaymath}
(\bm{^{E}_{I}q})
(\bm{^{E}q_{I}})
\end{displaymath}
\end{document}


You can force it in one of several ways. One way is to insert a strut of the right height in the subscript, to lower the rest. Another is to insert a phantom superscript.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bm,mathtools}
\begin{document}
\begin{displaymath}
(\bm{^{E}_{I}q})
(\bm{^{E}q_{\rule{0pt}{6pt}I}})
(\bm{^{E}q_{I}^{\vphantom{E}}})
\end{displaymath}
\end{document}


• Thanks! Is there an advantage to using ^{\vphantom{E} compared to just ^{}?
– m278
Jan 11, 2021 at 20:52
• @user284958 In this case, no it would not make a difference, since they share the same depth (0pt), If you did \vphantom{q}, you would see the I drop a little more. Jan 11, 2021 at 22:45