🚀 go-pugleaf

On 6 Sep 92, g88m0396@alpha.ru.ac.za (Jon-Dean Mountjoy) said:

 >Hi
 >
 >I have installed AMS for LaTeX, but I cannot find
 >the Natural number or Real number symbols.  There are the
 >BBb symbols (blackboard bold), but they don't look like
 >the symbols I seek.  (You know, the N with a stripe through it?)
 >
I feel compelled to give the lecture I give all my students: The Blackboard
bold symbols were created as an attempt to mimic bold characters in a medium
(namely a chalkboard or blackboard) that does not support ``boldness''. They
are not THE symbols for the naturals/integers/rationals/reals/complexes
/quarternions. The symbols are variously written by different professors as
the given letter [N/Z/Q/R/C/(H or K)] with one (or sometimes 2) added strokes.
The added stroke on the N is usually diagonal, but is sometimes vertical. The
``standard'' symbol for these concepts has for a long time been the
corresponding BOLD letter, and this is still recognized today by nearly all
journals and most mathematicians. However, the Blackboard bold and similar
fonts are also recognized and available at nearly all math journals.

So. If you don't have the AMS fonts, use {\bf R} for reals and you will be OK.
There are good reasons to get the AMS fonts, but if your ONLY reason is to
get the ``symbols for the real, naturals, etc.'', don't bother.

Dan Luecking