Csdrhrt

How can I give one line in LaTeX more vertical height so that something like

frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {n^n}^{2}}

displays correctly with the {2} getting enough space to look like it's above the top n in the denominator {n^n}^{2}.

Note that increasing line spacing doesn't work because LaTeX does not fill the space with the characters. (When I searched for this ability, this was all that came up.)

Does this go in the right direction?

documentclass[fleqn]{article}



begin{document}

paragraph{Original:}

$frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {n^n}^{2}}$

[frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {n^n}^{2}}]



paragraph{Proposal:}

$frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {mathstrut n^n}^{2}}$

[frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {mathstrut n^n}^{2}}]





paragraph{With brackets:}

$frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * ( n^n)^{2}}$



[frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * (n^n)^{2}}]



end{document}

I think the denominator of your frac expression suffers from two issues:

• a "cramped" look, i.e., the exponents are not raised much above the baseline


• first- and second-order exponents are raised to (very nearly) the same height

How to remedy these issues?

• To address the first issue, switch to "uncramped" mode -- see the ufrac macro below.



• 
  

  To remedy the second issue, I suggest you switch from {n^n}^2 to n^{n^2}. (The two forms are the same, mathematically speaking, but they are quite differnt from a typographic point of view.) That, or use parentheses to visually "enclose" the n^n term.

  
  
  

  Alternatively, consider switching from "standard" frac notation to inline-fraction notation.

  
  

Whatever else you do, please don't use the unnecessary * multiplication symbol. If you can't do without an explicit multiplication symbol, do use cdot, not *.

documentclass{article}



%% "uncramped" frac macro:

%% (Source: @egreg [who else?!], https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/337334/5001)

makeatletter

newcommand{ufrac}[2]{% 

   frac{#1}{mathpaletteufrac@den{#2}}}

newcommand{ufrac@den}[2]{#1#2}

makeatother



begin{document}

inline math mode, verb+frac+ notation



$frac{n^n}{{2}^{2n} * {n^n}^{2}} % OP's expression

 quad

 ufrac{n^n}{2^{2n} n^{n^2}}   

 quad

 ufrac{n^n}{2^{2n} (n^n)^2}$ 



bigskip

display math mode, verb+frac+ notation



smallskip

$displaystyle 

 frac{n^n}{2^{2n} n^{n^2}}

 quad

 ufrac{n^n}{2^{2n} n^{n^2}} 

 quad

 ufrac{n^n}{2^{2n} (n^n)^2}$



bigskip

inline-frac notation



smallskip

$n^n/(2^{2n} n^{n^2})           

 quad

 n^n/(2^{2n} (n^n)^2)$ 

end{document}