[OS X TeX] \(...\) vs $...$ for inline equations.

Herb Schulz herbs at wideopenwest.com
Thu Sep 30 16:00:58 CEST 2004


On 9/30/04 5:37 AM, "Jérôme Laurens" <jerome.laurens at u-bourgogne.fr> wrote:

>> 
>> Howdy,
>> 
>> I just took a look at the definitions of \( and \) in latex.ltx and
>> they
>> seem rather innocuous. Because the open/close of the equation is no
>> longer
>> symmetric \( checks to make sure you're not in math mode already before
>> issuing a $ and \) makes sure you are in math mode before issuing the
>> $.
>> Maybe there is something in the generation of the error message that
>> isn't
>> robust? When was that statement made? Maybe later versions of LaTeX2e
>> became
>> more robust; I seem to remember something like that happening as time
>> went
>> by.
>> 
> 
> I should not rely on the latex.ltx definition as it is so easy to patch
> a built in command.
> So many packages just override built in commands to extend their
> capabilities
> 

Howdy,

I'd guess tex4ht does something like that since the online documentation (in
a very poor state of affairs if you ask me) says it treats \(...\)
differently from $...$. However, do you know of other packages that do
similar things? I use amsmath.sty quite a bit and there seems to be no
re-definition in that package.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)

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