NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/text/tex/15240

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-21 | 1.7 KB

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Subject: a better script "I" symbol than {\cal I} for null infinity "scri"
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Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 14:58 EST
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This is a relativity-related physics symbol request.
When talking about the asymptotic structure of spacetimes, one has
timelike, null and spacelike "infinities". Relativists have used a
script capital letter I (which I believe insiders call "scri") for
the symbol denoting null infinity (of which there are two: past and future,
unlike the ghosts of charles dickens).

The problem is that in TeX, the only standard script fonts we have are the
\cal uppercase letters, some of which do not seem to resemble the "usual"
script letters used by scientific journals. In particular, {\cal I}
just looks like a normal printed "I" seen at the bottom of a pool with waves
on its surface causing some distortion, not at all like the longhand symbol
most of us recognize as the uppercase script I or perhaps were once taught
to write longhand.

Is there anything a low level TeX user can do to get a better symbol without
knowing how to play with fonts or metafont?
______________________________________________________________________________

Bob Jantzen       Villanova University   (in suburb of Philadelphia)
    volunteer tex coordinator
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