Relational Algebra join/latex \bowtie character

Hi Everyone,

I’m a bit new to TeXmacs. I’m using TeXmacs for some homework in a database class, which requires relational algebra. I’ve been able to get all the symbols I need except the natural join symbol. In LaTeX I would use \bowtie (https://docs.latexbase.com/symbols/bowtie/) or \join for this, but neither seem to work in TeXmacs.

Does anyone know of a way I can type this character?

-Nate

Hi @natemcintosh and welcome!

You can compose new symbols from existing one by using the functions in the “Format” menu. I’ve had a try and came up with

<resize|<superpose|\<triangleleft\>|<shift|\<triangleright\>|-4pt|>>|<minus|1l|4pt>|||>

It looks like this:
Screenshot%20from%202021-07-05%2019-05-35

As you can see the spacing is not yet ideal. You can play with the left and right adjustments in resize to improve. Or perhaps other forum users have better ideas :slight_smile:

You can also try to use this key shortcut: “> < tab” in the math mode.

3 Likes

Why did you choose shift and not move?

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Yes, move seems to be the better choice. I just used the first that seemed to do the job to give an idea of how to do this kind of thing. Improvement is left as an exercise to the reader :slight_smile:

Interesting, thanks! That looks more like the \Bowtie from wasysym than the standard LaTeX \bowtie, though.

Thanks everyone! For now, I think “> < tab” in math mode is good enough for what I need.

It’s great to find the community so welcoming!

1 Like

Another option which sometimes work is to look for a unicode glyph which works for you. In this case we are lucky:

the natural join is unicode 2A1D. To enter this in TeXmacs you would press Ctrl+Q and then type “#2A1D” within the brackets. Support I think depends on the kind of font you are using but TeXmacs tries hard to find a replacement font if the glyph is not supported in the one you selected.