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From: charlie@mica.stat.washington.edu (Charlie Geyer)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: Spacing in math mode in LaTeX
Message-ID: <1436@uw-entropy.ms.washington.edu>
Date: 17 May 89 17:58:28 GMT
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In article <1292@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> dhosek@jarthur.UUCP
(Donald Hosek) writes:

> The cases where one needs to insert extra spacing are rare enough that one
> can avoid not knowing how or where to use things like \, etc. This is why
> in my LaTeX courses, I don't even touch on spacing other than for special
> cases like where one uses \qquad. Extra spacing should be added by the editor
> of the final copy rather than the author. I read (I think in TeXline) that
> some journals find it more economical to re-key articles than try and deal
> with author-supplied manuscripts which are rife with all sorts of spurious
> fine-tuning!

Fine for journal articles and textbooks, but how about preprints, tech
reports, camera ready copy?  Given that there are only a few instances
where TeX needs spacing specification -- before the differential in an
integral, inside the braces of a set specifier, between a formula and a
condition, and perhaps a few others -- there is no reason that anyone
who regularly typesets mathematics should not learn them.

Your objection has nothing whatsoever to do with mathematics.  Most
people on encountering TeX or LaTeX for the first time simply cannot
accept that the program knows how to typeset copy better than they do.
They want to make all sorts of adjustments, not just to the mathematics,
but to lists, headings, figures and tables, and so forth.  Many people
eventually learn to let the program do it it's own way.  Some people
don't have that much self restraint.  The just have to fiddle.

No manuscript should ever be "rife with all sorts of spurious
fine-tuning."  If absolutely necessary, there should be just a few
novelties, which are implemented by macros so they are done with
complete uniformity throughout the manuscript and can be changed by
redefining the macros.

I don't think we disagree about the big picture, just about the fine
points of mathematics typing, which brings me back to my original point.
Anyone interested in TeX and mathematics should read chapters 16 - 19 of
the TeXbook.