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

Revision as of 16:23, 20 June 2010

Revision as of 16:28, 20 June 2010

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Subscripts and superscripts should be wrapped in <code>&lt;sub></code> and <code>&lt;sup></code> tags, respectively, with no other formatting info. Do not use the [[Unicode subscripts and superscripts]] {{!xt|²}} and {{!xt|³}}, or [[List of XML and HTML character entity references|XML/HTML character entity references]] (<code>&amp;sup2;</code>). Rather write <code><nowiki>²</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>³</nowiki></code> to produce the superscripts {{xt|²}} and {{xt|³}}. The superscripted 2 and 3 are easier to read, especially on small displays, and ensure that exponents are properly aligned. Compare:

: {{!xt|wⁱx²y³z⁽ⁿ⁺⁶⁾}} to

: {{xt|wⁱx²y³z^{(n + 6)}}}; (<code><nowiki>wⁱx²y³z^{(n + 6)}</nowiki></code>)

<br />

: {{!xt|1 + ''x'' + ''x''² + ''x''³ + ''x''⁴}} (<code>&amp;sup2;</code>) to

: {{xt|1 + ''x'' + ''x''² + ''x''³ + ''x''⁴}} (<code>&lt;sup>2&lt;/sup></code>).)

Font sizes and such should be entrusted to be handled with stylesheets.<!--see discussion on Talk:Template:Sup-->

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{{main|Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)}}

* '''Centuries and millennia''' are written using ordinal numbers, without superscripts and without Roman numerals: {{xt|the second millennium}}, {{xt|the 19th century}}, {{xt|a 19th-century book}} (see also [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Numbers as figures or words]]).

* '''Non-[[base (mathematics)|base]]-10 notations''' in non-computer-related articles use subscript notation. For example: {{xt|''137₉''}}, {{xt|''241₆''}}, {{xt|''2A9₁₂''}}, {{xt|''A87D₁₆''}} (use <code>&lt;sub></code> and <code>&lt;/sub></code>).

==Music==

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*'''[[Chemical compound]]s'''

:{{xt|C₂H₅OH}} using <code><nowiki>C₂H₅OH</nowiki></code>

*'''[[isotopesIsotopes]]'''

:{{xt|{{Nuclide2|He|3}}}} using <code>{{tlx|Nuclide2|He|3}}</code>