# Symbol for \gg or equal

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

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.

• 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. Mar 3 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 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^{*} . Mar 3 at 13:34
• 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? Mar 3 at 13:36
• Is this even a meaningful concept? At what point does $u \geq x$ become $u \gg x$? Mar 3 at 15:02

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.

\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}

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

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}


• 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 at 16:26