Tensors in Latex

1. Nov 6, 2008

InbredDummy

Hey I was hoping someone could help me on this LaTeX problem. So usually when we have tensors, we have to be careful in how they are spaced and ordered. However in LaTeX it just lines it up and does not give me the order that I want. Can anyone help me with this?

2. Nov 7, 2008

tiny-tim

Hi InbredDummy!
I'm not following you … how can it change the order?

and also you can force it to leave spaces by typing "\ "

3. Nov 7, 2008

shoehorn

Click on the following for an example of what it is I think you want:

$$T^{i_1i_2\ldots i_r}_{\phantom{i_1i_2\ldots i_r}j_1j_2\ldots j_k[/itex] [tex]T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\phantom{a}b} \wedge \omega^b$$

$$R^a_{\phantom{a}b} = d\theta^a_{\phantom{a}b} + \theta^a_{\phantom{a}c}\wedge\theta^c_{\phantom{c}b}$$

4. Nov 7, 2008

tiny-tim

ooh … \phantom … that's spooooky!

Or $$T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\ b} \wedge \omega^b$$

5. Nov 7, 2008

shoehorn

Using \ in preference to \phantom will often get you into trouble with hboxes. It's better to use \phantom since that takes care of bounding boxes automatically.

6. Nov 7, 2008

cristo

Staff Emeritus
You don't need to use phantom characters:

$${T^a}_b$$

7. Nov 7, 2008

tiny-tim

Hi shoehorn!

wot's an hbox?

8. Nov 7, 2008

InbredDummy

Thank you so much! I love the \phantom{} command!

9. Nov 7, 2008

shoehorn

A hbox is a container in which LaTeX puts typeset symbols. Essentially, when LaTeX processes a source file it places characters in hboxes and then its internal magic decides on the layout of the text on the page based on the size and content of the hboxes.

One of the things for which hboxes are important is hyphenation and ligature breaks. If you use, say, the \phantom command to handle index placement, this results in some low-level constraints being placed on the hbox containing those elements. In particular, it passes special flags to the LaTeX processor that prevent nasty hyphenation breaks from mangling your output. On the other hand, if you use \ to handle spacing, LaTeX will typically put each \ character in its own (sub-)hbox, which can result in weird-looking output, particularly in the case of inline equations.

10. Nov 7, 2008

robphy

Rather than
Code (Text):
T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\phantom{a}b} \wedge \omega^b
$$T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\phantom{a}b} \wedge \omega^b$$
or
Code (Text):
T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\ b} \wedge \omega^b
$$T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a_{\ b} \wedge \omega^b$$

I use
Code (Text):
T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a{}_b \wedge \omega^b
$$T^a = d\omega^a + \theta^a{}_b \wedge \omega^b$$

since I might do something like
Code (Text):
T_{i}{}^{jk}{}_l{}^m{}_m
$$T_{i}{}^{jk}{}_l{}^m{}_m$$