5

I need to (well, want to) use a symbol that is to \gg what \ge is to >: ,,\gg or equal``, if you will.

The obvious, quick-and-dirty solution was the following:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{statmath}
\newcommand{\ggeq}{\mathrel{\underline{\gg}}}
\begin{document}
$\bfu \ggeq \bfx$
\end{document}

which produces

enter image description here

Yet I feel that the resulting symbol is visually unappealing. Does anyone -- especially people who know what makes typeset symbols look good in the first place -- have tweaks, or other suggestions?

Or does such a symbol perhaps already exist in some package? I tried detexify, but to no avail, and didn't find anything in the list either.

EDIT: since there seems to be some misunderstanding about the semantics of this symbol, \gg does not mean ,,much greater than`` in the context in which the new symbol is needed.

EDIT 2: used \mathrel rather than \mathbin, which is indeed more sensible; thanks to @mickep for the tip.

7
  • You are asking for a symbol that looks nice. This is an aesthetic judgment. I find the symbol that you do not like rather nice.
    – Denis
    Mar 3, 2022 at 13:22
  • @Denis thanks! Yes, it is a judgement call. Yet I think there is such a thing as objectively beautiful typography; otherwise we might all be happily using Word instead of TeX!
    – chsk
    Mar 3, 2022 at 13:24
  • Difficult to find an already existing symbol indeed. The easiest way would be not to use \gg but >^{*} (for instance). Then you could use \geq^{*} .
    – Denis
    Mar 3, 2022 at 13:34
  • 2
    Not answering your question, but \mathrel might be better than \mathbin. Also, I cannot find this symbol in the very long uncode list of symbols. And "much greater than or equal to" sounds a bit obscure. May I out of curiosity ask for what it will mean?
    – mickep
    Mar 3, 2022 at 13:36
  • 3
    Is this even a meaningful concept? At what point does $u \geq x$ become $u \gg x$? Mar 3, 2022 at 15:02

2 Answers 2

7

Here is an extremely simple solution that does not have exactly the same spacing as \gg, but it's close. As noted by @Denis, you can redefine \gg if identical spacing is desired.

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{statmath}

\newcommand{\ggeq}{\geq\!\!\!\geq}
\renewcommand{\gg}{>\!\!\!>}

\begin{document}

$\bfu \ggeq \bfx_{\bfu \ggeq \bfx_{\bfu \ggeq \bfx}}$

$\bfu \gg \bfx_{\bfu \gg \bfx_{\bfu \gg \bfx}}$

\end{document}
4
  • Nice and simple. But as I see it the spacing between the two > signs is not the same with \gg and with your \ggeq.
    – Denis
    Mar 4, 2022 at 9:02
  • To overcome the problem, I would also add \renewcommand{\gg}{>\!\!\!>}
    – Denis
    Mar 4, 2022 at 9:44
  • Good point @Denis. I updated my solution.
    – Sandy G
    Mar 4, 2022 at 14:31
  • Excellent --- simple and effective. Thank you.
    – chsk
    Mar 4, 2022 at 16:25
7

I'm not sure what the meaning would be. Anyway, here's a way to use the minus sign for the lower line. The resulting symbol will have (about) the same vertical dimension as \geq.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\makeatletter
\DeclareRobustCommand{\ggeq}{\mathrel{\mathpalette\gglleq@\gg}}
\DeclareRobustCommand{\lleq}{\mathrel{\mathpalette\gglleq@\ll}}

\newcommand{\gglleq@}[2]{%
  \begingroup
  \sbox\z@{$\m@th#1#2$}\sbox\tw@{$#1\leq$}%
  \vcenter to \dimexpr\ht\tw@+\dp\tw@{%
    \offinterlineskip
    \hbox{$\m@th#1#2$}%
    \vss
    \vbox to \dimen@{
      \vss
      \hbox to \wd\z@{$\m@th\mspace{-0.5mu}#1{-}\hss{-}\mspace{-0.5mu}$}%
      \kern-1.5\fontdimen8 \gglleq@font{#1} 3
      \kern-\fontdimen22 \gglleq@font{#1} 2
    }
  }%
  \endgroup
}
\newcommand{\gglleq@font}[1]{%
  \ifx#1\displaystyle\textfont\else
  \ifx#1\textstyle\textfont\else
  \ifx#1\scriptstyle\scriptfont\else
  \scriptscriptfont\fi\fi\fi
}

\makeatother

\begin{document}

$a\ggeq b\geq c$ $\scriptstyle a\ggeq b\geq c$

$a\gg b$ $\scriptstyle a\gg b$

$a\ggeq b$ $\scriptstyle a\ggeq b$

$a\lleq b$

$a\ll b$

\end{document}

enter image description here

1
  • Thank you, very cool! I'll just nod and pretend I have any clue about how what's actually going on there. ,)
    – chsk
    Mar 4, 2022 at 16:26

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