MATHEMATICA TUTORIAL

Subscripts, Bars, and Other Modifiers

Here is a typical palette of modifiers.

Mathematica allows you to use any expression as a subscript.

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Unless you specifically tell it otherwise, Mathematica will interpret a superscript as a power.

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Ctrl+_ or Ctrl+-	go to the position for a subscript
Ctrl++ or Ctrl+4	go to the position underneath
Ctrl+^ or Ctrl+6	go to the position for a superscript
Ctrl+& or Ctrl+7	go to the position on top
Ctrl+Space	return from a special position

Special input forms based on control characters. The second forms given should work on any keyboard.

This enters a subscript using control keys.

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Just as Ctrl+^ and Ctrl+_ go to superscript and subscript positions, so also Ctrl+& and Ctrl+4 can be used to go to positions directly above and below. With the layout of a standard English-language keyboard Ctrl+& is directly to the right of Ctrl+^ while Ctrl+4 is directly to the right of Ctrl+_.

key sequence	displayed form	expression form
x Ctrl+& _		OverBar[x]
x Ctrl+& Esc vec Esc		OverVector[x]
x Ctrl+& ~		OverTilde[x]
x Ctrl+& ^		OverHat[x]
x Ctrl+& .		OverDot[x]
x Ctrl+4 _		UnderBar[x]

Ways to enter some common modifiers using control keys.

Here is

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You can use

as a variable.

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