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I'd like to be able to have all three of the following in my document:

  1. the Palatino font
  2. bold and small caps
  3. old-style figures

I'm currently using mathpazo with the options [osf] to get 1 and 3, but not 2. According to Bold small caps with mathpazo, I'm able to get 1 and 2 (but not 3) if I don't specify the [osf] option.

It seems that the mathpazo package doesn't really support all of the above three features simultaneously. Does anyone know of a way or an alternative package that implements 1-3?

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2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

You could try using the recently-released newpxtext and newpxmath packages. In the MWE below, issuing the command \useosf after the math-related packages are loaded enables the use of regular- and bold-weight oldstyle numerals in text mode, while lining numerals will be used in math mode. Small caps are available in bold (as well as regular-weight, of course).

enter image description here

\useosf % old-style figures in text, not in math
\linespread{1.05} % Palatino needs a bit more leading than CM
0123456789, {\bfseries 0123456789}, {\itshape 0123456789}, {\bfseries\itshape 0123456789}.

\textsc{Once upon a time, \dots}
{\bfseries \scshape Once upon a time, \dots}

Some math expressions: $1+1=2$, and $\int_0^1 \mathrm{d}x = 1$.
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@Mico: Thanks for the answer. Somehow I couldn't install the fonts properly, but I'm sure it'll work fine once I figure out how to install the fonts. –  Kevin C Apr 22 '13 at 16:38
@KevinC In all the most used TeX distributions everything can be installed with the package manager. –  Speravir Apr 22 '13 at 16:43
@KevinC - Which TeX distribution do you use? If you use either TeXLive or MikTeX, obtaining and installing the recently released newpx[text,math] packages should be performed automatically when you run the package update scripts. –  Mico Apr 22 '13 at 17:01
@KevinC Then change the download mirror or do a new synchronization. It is available as MiKTeX repository. And newpx and newtx are relatives (both good!), but not the same. For modes: If you back in the past once did a update in user mode you must also do this every time in future! –  Speravir Apr 22 '13 at 17:38
@KevinC - I no longer use MikTeX, but when I still used to do so, I remember there being a difference between updating already-installed packages and installing entirely new packages. If you've had MikTeX on your system for more than a month, you'll need to bring up the "Package Manager" program, as the newpxtext and newpxmath packages -- having been released less than a month ago -- will fall into the new-and-not-yet-installed category. –  Mico Apr 22 '13 at 17:47
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This is more thought as chronicler’s duty after first writing an erroneous answer and searching for cure than as useful addition in regard to the question.

Beside Mico’s answer:

If you load first mathpazo and tgpagella second, then tgpagella does only overwrite text related definitions of mathpazo, but not the maths part.

This at least unexpected behaviour, if not bug, of tgpagella to produce oldstyle figures in small caps mode, but lining figures in other modes, can be changed with the help of newenviron and xstring (notes below):


\usepackage{textcomp} % for "\text...oldstyle" commands

  \newenviron{osf}{ % automatic definition of "\osfbody"
    \expandarg\StrSubstitute{\osfIX}{0}{\textzerooldstyle} %could be set into start code as well!

\textsc{\TeX\ Gyre Pagella} -- a \textsc{Palatino} clone.

1234567890 glyphs in \TeX\ Gyre Pagella.

\textnineoldstyle\textzerooldstyle\ glyphs in \TeX\ Gyre Pagella.

1234567890 glyphs in \TeX\ Gyre Pagella (1234567890 times).

$(1 + 2) * 34 - 5 - 6 + 7 - 8 = 90$ %produces warnings

1234567890 Small Caps in \TeX\ Gyre Pagella.

1234567890 Small Caps in \TeX\ Gyre Pagella.


example output

  • All TeX Gyre font examples use themselves the \textcomp commands for oldstyle figures.

  • I used newenviron because it can be nested, for the minimal working example probably environ would have been enough (cf. What is the problem with nested environments using \BODY (environ package)?).

  • Note that math mode inside the osf environment produces warnings.

  • I did not test this, but applying the environment to the whole document should significantly increase the compile time.

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