[texhax] The Em Rule, a Question of Style

[Uwe Lueck]

"P. R. Stanley" <paulrichardstanley at gmail.com> wrote at 19.05.2010 16:19:35:
>
>> > >Thanks for your response. So, would you say that mbox and the ~ are
>> > >interchangeable in this instance?
>> >
>> > Without looking at the definition of \mbox one cannot be
>> > certain, but I would hypothesise that \mbox creates a
>> > single indivisible unit that cannot possibly be split
>> > unless it is \un[*]box'd, whilst the tie ("~") simply
>> > inhibits splitting at one particular place, allowing
>> > other potential breakpoints to still have their
>> > intended effect.
>>
>>A space, also ~ have stretch/shrink components. They get
>>lost, if they are put in the box.
>>
>>"~\mbox{--}~" instead of "\mbox{ -- }" is therefore better.
>>The dash creates a breakpoint by its own with the assoziated
>>penalty \exhyphenpenalty. \mbox prevents the breakpoint here
>>regardless of the setting of \exhyphenpenalty.
>Could you provide more details on the function of \exhyphenpenalty, plese?

Search texbook.tex. 

Cheers, 

    Uwe.