[texhax] math \fontdimen

[Uwe Lück]

At 10:17 08.02.09, Donald Arseneau wrote:
>Uwe Lück <uwe.lueck at web.de> writes:
>
> > Hi, experts of the TeX program and basic font switching: Can the math font
> > parameters as on p. 447 of the TeXbook be accessed directly through
> > \fontdimen, or must I measure them through test boxes? Is there a way 
> to make
> > \font refer to "the current symbol font"? Whenever I try, \font seems to
> > refer to the text \normalsized \normalfont. -- Uwe.
>
>I think you are looking for
>
>\xheight = \fontdimen 5 \textfont 2 \relax

Thanks a lot, this has lifted my knowledge of TeX to a new level. I was 
unable to make sense of TeXbook pp. 153 so far, now I compared p. 351. 
(Another instance of Knuth's magic: read the page number from right to 
left, and you find the corresponding page in the appendix or vice versa ...)

Now I wonder a little whether I can be sure that (outside PlainTeX) 2 will 
be the symbols family.

Actually I was looking for axis_height, going to explain later ... Some 
time ago I looked for x_height of \scriptstyle or so.

-- Uwe L.