[OS X TeX] AMS-TeX symbols in plaintex

[Michael Sharpe]

On Jul 21, 2013, at 2:44 PM, Daniel Drucker <drucker at math.wayne.edu> wrote:

> Unlike most people on this list, I prefer plaintex to LaTeX, though I've used LaTeX
> too. Typically I enlarge the symbol set by starting each of my Textures plaintex
> documents with the commands
> 
> \input AMSsym.def
> \input AMSsym.tex
> 
> which enable me to use the AMS symbol fonts without using AMS-TeX. The two
> files called with the input statements are dated Dec. 22, 1994 and come from the
> American Mathematical Society. They were supplied with Textures in a TeX Inputs
> folder.
> 
> Is there a similar set of files that I can use to import the AMS symbols into TeXShop
> plaintex documents? That would enable me to typeset all my Textures documents
> in TeXShop without losing the AMS symbols. It would also make it easier for me
> to incorporate AMS-TeX symbols into new TeXShop documents.

TeXLive already makes available amssym.def and amssym.tex. You don't need to move them---just write

\input amssym.def
\input amdsym.tex

The change of case is important as searching for files in texlive system folders is case-sensitive.

Michael