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- From: "Daniel H. Luecking" <DL24794@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU>
- Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
- Subject: Re: No REAL/NATURAL numbers
- Message-ID: <8092160@MVB.SAIC.COM>
- Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 10:41:36 CDT
- Organization: Info-Tex<==>Comp.Text.Tex Gateway
- X-Gateway-Source-Info: Mailing List
- Lines: 27
-
-
- On 6 Sep 92, g88m0396@alpha.ru.ac.za (Jon-Dean Mountjoy) said:
-
- >Hi
- >
- >I have installed AMS for LaTeX, but I cannot find
- >the Natural number or Real number symbols. There are the
- >BBb symbols (blackboard bold), but they don't look like
- >the symbols I seek. (You know, the N with a stripe through it?)
- >
- I feel compelled to give the lecture I give all my students: The Blackboard
- bold symbols were created as an attempt to mimic bold characters in a medium
- (namely a chalkboard or blackboard) that does not support ``boldness''. They
- are not THE symbols for the naturals/integers/rationals/reals/complexes
- /quarternions. The symbols are variously written by different professors as
- the given letter [N/Z/Q/R/C/(H or K)] with one (or sometimes 2) added strokes.
- The added stroke on the N is usually diagonal, but is sometimes vertical. The
- ``standard'' symbol for these concepts has for a long time been the
- corresponding BOLD letter, and this is still recognized today by nearly all
- journals and most mathematicians. However, the Blackboard bold and similar
- fonts are also recognized and available at nearly all math journals.
-
- So. If you don't have the AMS fonts, use {\bf R} for reals and you will be OK.
- There are good reasons to get the AMS fonts, but if your ONLY reason is to
- get the ``symbols for the real, naturals, etc.'', don't bother.
-
- Dan Luecking
-