[XeTeX] unicode-math package (Was re. ... and \UnicodeMathSymbol command)

[Ross Moore]

Hi Joel and Nicolas,

On 22/06/2009, at 4:12 AM, Joel C. Salomon wrote:

> Nicolas Vaughan wrote:
>> I haven't been able to find information on the unicode-math package.
>> What's it for exactly?
>
> Recent versions of Unicode (since 4.0, IIRC) include in Plane 1  
> special
> mathematical alphabets; see <http://tinyurl.com/unicode-math-alpha>.
> Some fonts include all these characters, along with special kerning
> tables designed for mathematical use.  The unicode-math package allows
> these fonts to be used with XɘTeX, negating the need for special  
> metrics
> files &c.  The package is still in an early pre-release stage, and  
> Will
> is too busy to give it much time now, but it’s already pretty  
> usable.
>
> At present time, however, there are exactly *two* fonts that implement
> the Unicode Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols along with the necessary
> OpenType tables:  Microsoft’s Cambria Math (available with Office  
> 2007)
> and Apostolos Syropoulos’s Asana Math (on CTAN).

Actually there are some other fonts that have these symbols.
See the attached image, indicating also:
    Code 2001, STIX General, Unicode symbols
  
   
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Picture 16.png
Type: image/png
Size: 141175 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://tug.org/pipermail/xetex/attachments/20090622/5da60b1d/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------


I don't know whether or not their OpenType tables are adequate for
proper positioning within a mathematical context.
It would be good to know, and have a reliable statement about these
fonts recorded in the archives of this mailing list.


> There are also several in-progress fonts.  Ross Mills of Tiro  
> Typeworks
> (who did most of the maths work for Cambria Math) is working on a font
> he calls Maxwell; see <http://tiro.com/fonts.html>.  Johannes  
> Küster of
> typoma GmbH is working on Minion Math, a companion to Adobe’s  
> Minion Pro
> (Minion name used under license), Latin Modern Math and (along with
> Hermann Zapf) a revision of Euler; see <http://typoma.com/en/ 
> fonts.html>
> and <http://typoma.com/en/projects.html>.  Finally, the STIX Fonts
> Project has been working on a Times-like maths set for a while; expect
> them to be done any decade now, with the OpenType tables set to follow
> not much more than a century later.

The attached image shows an example from the pre-release version
of STIX General  which, as I understand it, is no longer available.


Having fonts which contain these characters will be very important
in the (not so distant) future, as publishers adopt the new  ISO32000
standard, based on  tagged PDF .


> The development version of unicode-math can be downloaded from
> <http://github.com/wspr/unicode-math/tree/master>; put unicode- 
> math.sty,
> unicode-math.tex, and unicode-math-add.tex somewhere XɘLaTeX can find
> them, and experiment.
>
> —Joel Salomon


Hope this helps,

	Ross


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
------------------------------------------------------------------------