On Monday, 9 July 2012 15:30:15 UTC+10, unruh wrote:
>> Why does latex not have the equivalent of the \magnification command in
>> tex?
Some time later
> \mag=1500 -- recommended by Pawel
>> That works. Thanks. (This is for use in klatexformula).
>> Why is it not recommended?
>I am not sure. I never saw anyone recomend it, that is all. I use it,
>it's handy sometimes.
>Pawel
\magnification is a command in plain TeX that was disabled by the designer of LaTeX. The def of \magnification relies on \mag (or \m@g)
\mag is a primitive TeX command and as far as I know, can't be disabled. It is rare to use \mag in a LaTeX doc, but here is an example in a standard LaTeX distribution, in MFPIC.
% File: lapictures.tex
% A part of mfpic 1.06 2011/03/08
%
% Magnify to same scale as pictures.tex :
% (Use of \mag is against the law of LaTeX, but Bugs Bunny set a precedent.)
\mag=1200
\documentclass{article}
%%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
% adjust these to your liking:
\setlength{\paperheight}{11truein}
\setlength{\paperwidth}{8.5truein}
. . .
-- the file then goes on to give code to draw some mfpic diagrams.
Notice the use of TRUE for the lengths.
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From Lamports book on LaTeX2e (1994) page 233:
The \magnification command of Plain \TeX has no counterpart in \LaTeX. Magnification of the output can often be done by the program that prints the dvi file.
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I miss using \magnification but I think it was disabled in LaTeX to make margin formatting and other lengths work harmoniously.
regards from Corporal