textcomp numero sign (№) with PostScript fonts

[Tristan Miller]

Greetings.

I am writing a LaTeX document using the Charter PostScript font. I need to
use the \textnumero symbol (i.e., the numero sign, or №) from the textcomp
package. However, this symbol is not available:

$ cat > foo.tex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{charter,textcomp}
\begin{document}
\textnumero
\end{document}

$ latex foo

[...]

! Package textcomp Error: Symbol \textnumero not provided by
(textcomp) font family bch in TS1 encoding.
(textcomp) Default family used instead.

[...]

I therefore have two questions:

1) If I don't care about using a Computer Modern version of the \textnumero
symbol, what commands do I need to use instead?

2) If I'd rather use a native version of the \textnumero symbol, how can I
fake it? That is, can someone suggest how to define a new symbol that
looks like the uppercase N plus a vertically centred, underlined, small
lowercase o? Unfortunately, the o is too high and the underline is far
too low with \newcommand\textnumero{N\underline{\textordmasculine}}.
\newcommand\textnumero{N\textsuperscript{\underline{o}}} looks a bit
better, but the o is still too high (especially noticeable at larger font
sizes, such as \Huge -- it's actually much higher than the N).

Regards,
Tristan

--
_
_V.-o Tristan Miller [en,(fr,de,ia)] >< Space is limited
/ |`-' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <> In a haiku, so it's hard
(7_\\ http://www.nothingisreal.com/ >< To finish what you

[Ralf Stubner]

Tristan Miller <psych...@nothingisreal.com> writes:

> 1) If I don't care about using a Computer Modern version of the \textnumero
> symbol, what commands do I need to use instead?

In a group switch to fontfamily cmr before using \texnumero. It will
look ugly.

> 2) If I'd rather use a native version of the \textnumero symbol, how can I
> fake it? That is, can someone suggest how to define a new symbol that
> looks like the uppercase N plus a vertically centred, underlined, small
> lowercase o? Unfortunately, the o is too high and the underline is far
> too low with \newcommand\textnumero{N\underline{\textordmasculine}}.
> \newcommand\textnumero{N\textsuperscript{\underline{o}}} looks a bit
> better, but the o is still too high (especially noticeable at larger font
> sizes, such as \Huge -- it's actually much higher than the N).

I am not convinced that the o has to be underlined and that it has to be
vertically centered, but you can start from something like this

\usepackage{relsize}
[...]
N\raisebox{0.25em}{\relsize{-2}\underline{o}}

and adjust it to your taste. IMO a thicker and shorter line would look
better ...

cheerio
ralf

[Tristan Miller]

Greetings.

In article <lzwt9se...@tfkp12.physik.uni-erlangen.de>, Ralf Stubner
wrote:

>> 1) If I don't care about using a Computer Modern version of the
>> \textnumero symbol, what commands do I need to use instead?
>
> In a group switch to fontfamily cmr before using \texnumero.

Which package documentation must I consult for information on fontfamily
group switching?

>> 2) If I'd rather use a native version of the \textnumero symbol, how can
>> I fake it?
>

> I am not convinced that the o has to be underlined and that it has to be
> vertically centered

True, but most renderings of № I've seen, including the Computer Modern
version, use this construction.

> , but you can start from something like this
>
> \usepackage{relsize}
> [...]
> N\raisebox{0.25em}{\relsize{-2}\underline{o}}
>
> and adjust it to your taste. IMO a thicker and shorter line would look
> better ...

I agree. How about N\raisebox{0.25em}{\relsize{-2}\b{o}} ?

I also think that there is too much space between the N and the o.
N\hspace{-0.075em}\raisebox{0.25em}{\relsize{-2}\b{o}} seems to look OK in
all the standard Computer Modern and PostScript fonts except Zapf
Chancery.

[Ralf Stubner]

Tristan Miller <psych...@nothingisreal.com> writes:

>> In a group switch to fontfamily cmr before using \texnumero.
>
> Which package documentation must I consult for information on fontfamily
> group switching?

That is basic LaTeX documentation: 'LaTeX2ε font selection', which is
fntguide.dvi on my system. Basically something like

{\fontfamily{cmr}\selectfont\textnumero}

should work. But it will look ugly combined with Charter.

cheerio
ralf

[Robin Fairbairns]

Ralf Stubner <ralf.s...@physik.uni-erlangen.de> writes:
>Tristan Miller <psych...@nothingisreal.com> writes:
>
>>> In a group switch to fontfamily cmr before using \texnumero.
>>
>> Which package documentation must I consult for information on fontfamily
>> group switching?
>

>That is basic LaTeX documentation: 'LaTeX2å font selection', which is

>fntguide.dvi on my system. Basically something like
>
>{\fontfamily{cmr}\selectfont\textnumero}
>
>should work. But it will look ugly combined with Charter.

any numero sign i've ever seen is composed of a pair of characters
that seem not to have any relation to the current family. this is
certainly true of the tcrm one: with a bit of size adjustment, i don't
see why it shouldn't work with charter.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge