vertical square root upstroke (instead of having a slant)

vertical square root upstroke (instead of having a slant)

[Sanjoy Mahajan]

With the following minimal file on MkIV (2013.05.28 00:36 MKIV current),
the upstroke of the square root is vertical instead of having the usual
slant toward the right.  With MkII it has the usual slant.

I see this problem only with certain arrangements of variables (that
recur often in my book chapter on springs and piano strings).  For
example, it goes away after changing the "\rho" to a "b".

\starttext
\startformula
\sqrt{Tb^2\over \rho}.
\stopformula
\stoptext

I know that the big math symbols are constructed differently in MkIV
and MkII.  Does the example above show an intended difference?

-- 
-Sanjoy
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Re: vertical square root upstroke (instead of having a slant)

[Hans Hagen]

On 12/1/2013 8:57 PM, Sanjoy Mahajan wrote:
> With the following minimal file on MkIV (2013.05.28 00:36 MKIV current),
> the upstroke of the square root is vertical instead of having the usual
> slant toward the right.  With MkII it has the usual slant.
>
> I see this problem only with certain arrangements of variables (that
> recur often in my book chapter on springs and piano strings).  For
> example, it goes away after changing the "\rho" to a "b".
>
> \starttext
> \startformula
> \sqrt{Tb^2\over \rho}.
> \stopformula
> \stoptext
>
> I know that the big math symbols are constructed differently in MkIV
> and MkII.  Does the example above show an intended difference?

a radical has a couple of increasing sizes (discrete steps, if they have 
a slant depends of the font designer) before it switches to an 
extensible that then normally has no slant

(in context one can hook in a mp variant that keeps the slant)

(if needed we can make it an option to omit steps and always use upright)

Hans


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Re: vertical square root upstroke (instead of having a slant)

[Sanjoy Mahajan]

> a radical has a couple of increasing sizes (discrete steps, if they
> have a slant depends of the font designer) before it switches to an
> extensible that then normally has no slant

Interesting.  That explains the difference:  The \rho made the radical
big enough to switch to the extensible, unslanted version.

> (in context one can hook in a mp variant that keeps the slant)
> (if needed we can make it an option to omit steps and always use upright)

My math-typography sense is far from developed, and mostly comes from
having read lots of math books.  With that caveat, my gut feelings are
that (1) the switch from slant to upright is a bit surprising for a
reader, and (2) that the slant version is more common, so an
always-upright radical would also be a bit surprising.

But perhaps you or others with a more developed typographical eye have a
more principled way of judging?

-Sanjoy
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