Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Superscripts and subscripts: Difference between revisions

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{{confused|MOS:ORDINAL}}

{{MoS guideline|section= |MOS:SUP|MOS:SUPERSCRIPT|MOS:SUBSCRIPT|WP:SUPSCRIPT|WP:SUBSCRIPT |...|SHORTCUT5SUB}}

{{Style}}

A [[subscript and superscript|'''superscript''' or '''subscript''']] is text that is positioned slightly above or below the normal line of type. Superscripts and subscripts are often rendered in a smaller font size than the adjacent normal text. This part of the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]] aims to achieve consistency in the use and formatting of superscripts and subscripts in Wikipedia articles.

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* In '''[[figured bass]]''', superscript and subscript may be combined by using math markup or by using the {{tlx|su}} template: <code><nowiki><math>C_6^4</math></nowiki></code> = <math>C_6^4</math>, <code><nowiki>''C''{{su|b=6|p=4}}</nowiki></code> = ''C''{{su|b=6|p=4}}; (see also [[Wikipedia:TeX markup]] or [[m:Help:Formula]]).

*For [[diminished chord]]s and half-diminished chords: Use <code><nowiki>{{music|dim}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{music|halfdim}}</nowiki></code>.

*For chord qualities and inversions: <code><nowiki>vii{{music|dim}}</nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki>I{{sub|6}}</nowiki></code>. This looks like: {{xt|vii{{music|dim}}}}, {{xt|I{{sub|6}}}}.

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Special care is needed with subscripted labels to distinguish the purpose of the subscript (as this is a common error): variables and constants in subscripts should be italic, while textual labels should be in normal text font (Roman, upright). For example:

: <math> x_\text{this one} = y_\text{that one} \,\!</math> &emsp; (correct—typeset from <syntaxhighlight lang="tex" inline><math> x_\text{this one} = y_\text{that one} \,\!</math></syntaxhighlight>),

and

: <math>\sum_{i=1}^n { {y_i}^2 }\!</math> &emsp; (correct—typeset from <syntaxhighlight lang="tex" inline><math>\sum_{i=1}^n { {y_i}^2 }\!</math></syntaxhighlight>),

but not

: <math>r = x_{predicted} - x_{observed}</math> &emsp; (''incorrect''—typeset from <code><nowiki>r = x_{predicted} - x_{observed}</nowiki></code>).

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== See also ==

* This guideline was implemented per a [[WPSpecial:RFCPermalink/1297089060#Superscript and subscript typography guideline|Requestsan forRfC commentdiscussion]] discussion at [[WPWikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Superscript and subscript typography guideline]].

[[Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style (formatting)|Superscripts and subscripts]]