Creating fractions vertically

Question

Hello! I have the task of creating fractions that require the numbers to be directly above and below (not in the usual fraction separated by a forward slash) Like this:

3 – 1 =

5 3

With the line between them (not 3/5). The Minus and Equals signs should also be centered but I figure I'll just use baseline shift.

I can't use Underline Options because it tends to underline the entire line and not just the single number (3 and 1 are on the same line).

I can't use the simple text underline (as I did here) because even though it will underline the number alone, it can not be baseline shifted to be equally between the numbers, if that makes sense.

I've tried other settings but can not simply set an underline for a single number with a lower baseline shift.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Barb Binder · Accepted Answer

Hi Brenda:

Vertical fractions are called nut fractions, and there is a font available on GitHub (https://github.com/TiroTypeworks/Nutso) called "nutso" that you can use for this situation. One of our ACPs, Nigel French, explains it here: https://www.lynda.com/Design-tutorials/Nut-stacked-fractions/653227/2823266-4.html. If you don't have a subcription to lynda/linkedin learning, a lot of local libraries have free memberships for their communities to use.

~Barb

David Popham · Answer

To create basic stacked fractions, you can:

Place a space between the numerator and denominator characters.
Create a paragraph style with the correct font attributes, and add space above and below to the style.
Create a "Numerator" character style with a baseline shift of about 7 pt and the Underline options set to something like Weight: 0.75 pt and Offset: 3 pt.
Create a "Denominator" character style with a baseline shift of about -9 pt.
Create a "DenominatorSpace" character style with Tracking set to about -780 pt.
Apply the character styles in this order: Numerator, Denominator, DenominatorSpace.
Adjust the settings in each of the character styles as needed to get the look you want.

All that being said, this just gives you a baseline to set fractions, and the results are not ideal. Different numbers may need manual tweaking to look proper, especially the denominator space due to different character widths.

I would hate to have to set more than a handful of fractions using this method. If your content has a lot of math, I would invest in a plug-in—Math+Magic, MathType or MathTools. Personally, I prefer MathTools because it allows you to keep live text rather than converting to EPS files as the other two do. However, it's kind of expensive and the learning curve is high.

And don't forget to use proper math characters for your operators so that they are read properly by screen readers in your output. Rather than using the hyphen character or a lowercase "x", use the minus sign and multiplication characters.

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