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Super/sub-scripts (2)

When you are developing new mathematical techniques, most often you need to define your own set of symbols. Equiping functions or variables with subscripts and superscripts is a logical step to take. However, too often I see people abuse superscripts. The problem is that you create confusion with powers of the symbol, especially if you use numbers or single-character superscripts.

I have two suggestions.

A. Bracket them

If you use superscripts, embed them in brackets (e.g., the way it is done to indicate derivatives):

LaTeX-rendering
\begin{align} 
  a_n y^{(n)} + a_{n-1} y^{(n-1)} + \cdots + a_1 y^{(1)} + a_0 y = q
\end{align}

Of course, the weakness of this approach shows itself: confusion with derivatives may occur.

B. Prescripts

A better solution might be to consider the prescripts that are available in the mathtools package:

\usepackage{mathtools}

LaTeX-rendering
\begin{align}
  \prescript{b}{2}F = 3
\end{align}