7

I wonder how to make every superscript level smaller than each other.

Like, 2^{2^{2^{2^{2^{2^{2}}}}}} makes the first superscript smaller, but the rest of the superscripts the same size as the first one.

I have done this first on wikipedia, but of course it doesn't go like I want it to go like.

Alan Munn
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Lemondoge
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  • Welcome! I assume the underlying point here is that stuff can only usefully be made so small. After that, making it smaller just makes it illegible and no longer helps to clarify the meaning. – cfr Feb 01 '16 at 02:40
  • This ought to be a duplicate of http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/144490/how-do-i-typeset-a-tenfold-powering-a-tower-of-powers-with-latex/144525#144525 but you ask that things keep getting smaller, but you shouldn't want that:-) – David Carlisle Feb 01 '16 at 08:02
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    If it really is just 2s, you could always use up-arrrow notation ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth's_up-arrow_notation ), which avoids the readability problem entirely. – BMWurm Feb 01 '16 at 13:08

2 Answers2

7

You could use \scalebox command from the graphicx package and make a macro that does this. But, as mentioned by @cfr in the comments to your question, readability very quickly becomes an issue.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\newcommand\aesuper[2][0.90]{^{\scalebox{#1}{$\scriptstyle#2$}}}

\begin{document}

\[
  2\aesuper[1]{2\aesuper{2\aesuper{2\aesuper{2\aesuper{2\aesuper{2}}}}}}
\]

\end{document}

enter image description here

A.Ellett
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7

Or \resizebox of the same package graphicx ... 

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newdimen\antes
\setlength{\antes}{4em}
\gdef\mb#1{\resizebox{\antes}{!}{#1%
\global\addtolength{\antes}{-.15\antes}}}
\begin{document}
 $\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{%
\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}^{\mb{2}}}}}}}}}}}$
\end{document}

mwe

Fran
  • 80,769
  • 1
    Note that \global\addtolength doesn't work if calc is loaded. – egreg Feb 01 '16 at 07:26
  • @egreg Good to know. I tested that \dimexpr work here (for example, \dimexpr-.15\antes-.6em to produce a nice mirror effect) but I was not aware of packages as calc or pgf . – Fran Feb 01 '16 at 11:25