On 05/15/2001 at 03:04 PM, Lars Hellström <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I math fonts something like that could be used to handle the choice >between \epsilon and \varepsilon. As I understand it, these are >semantically equivalent---i.e., people will think you've done something >wrong if you try to use them both in the same formula to mean different >things > Some might, but most (at least in the parts of math I read) wouldn't. The general rule of thumb seems to be: if they look different, they are (mathematically) different. In my experience, more mathematicians would think it wrong to try and claim \epsilon and \varepsilon did mean the same, and I know some journal editors that would change it. Note that \in is merely a stylized \epsilon, but is mathematically distinct from all the other "epsilon" variants nowadays. (Before the standardization of the \in symbol, \epsilon was used to mean "is an element of" -- and sometimes to also be the classical analysis "epsilon" in the same formula!) -- Phil Parker -------------------------------------------- URL http://www.math.twsu.edu/Faculty/Parker/ Random quote: Reality is an obstacle to hallucination.