R help - Jan 2011 - asterisk in subscript

hi,

i am trying to label a plot axis with the equivalent of the latex $n_*$.
i initially tried

expression(paste(italic(n)["*"]))

but this made the * absolutely tiny and centred about midway wrt the n.
then

expression(paste(italic(n)[textstyle("*")]))

made the * about the right size but now it looks more like a superscript
than a subscript.

does anyone have an idea of how to get the * to the "right" subscript
position (ie. somewhere near the baseline of the n)? thanks!

best regards,
andrew.

-- 
Andrew B. Collier

Physicist
Waves and Space Plasmas Group
Hermanus Magnetic Observatory

Honorary Senior Lecturer                             tel: +27 31 2601157
Space Physics Research Institute                     fax: +27 31 2607795
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa    gsm: +27 83 3813655

On Fri, 28 Jan 2011, Andrew Collier wrote:
> hi,
>
> i am trying to label a plot axis with the equivalent of the latex $n_*$.
> i initially tried
>
> expression(paste(italic(n)["*"]))
>
> but this made the * absolutely tiny and centred about midway wrt the n.
> then
>
> expression(paste(italic(n)[textstyle("*")]))
>
> made the * about the right size but now it looks more like a superscript
> than a subscript.
>
> does anyone have an idea of how to get the * to the "right"
subscript
> position (ie. somewhere near the baseline of the n)? thanks!
I think these *are* correct: remember that an asterisk is a 
superscript.  However, what you see depends on the graphics device and 
font you used, and you have not told us (pace the posting guide).  If 
your OS and device support Unicode, try \u2217:

expression(paste(italic(n)["\u2217"]))

looks about right to me (X11() on Linux).
> best regards,
> andrew.
>
> -- 
> Andrew B. Collier
>
> Physicist
> Waves and Space Plasmas Group
> Hermanus Magnetic Observatory
>
> Honorary Senior Lecturer                             tel: +27 31 2601157
> Space Physics Research Institute                     fax: +27 31 2607795
> University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa    gsm: +27 83 3813655
-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

magic! this does the trick:

expression(paste(italic(n)[symbol("\052")]))

thanks for the hint, ted!

-- 
Andrew B. Collier

Physicist
Waves and Space Plasmas Group
Hermanus Magnetic Observatory

Honorary Senior Lecturer                             tel: +27 31 2601157
Space Physics Research Institute                     fax: +27 31 2607795
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa    gsm: +27 83 3813655