raised numerals

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In scientific text, especially nuclear chemistry, raised and lowered numbers are useful. Mac OS has this nice character table thing where you can pick raised and lowered numbers at will. Only problem is that raised 1, 2 and 3 are different from the rest both in size and appearance in many of the commonest fonts, and this does not look good in text. Is there a way to get around this?
 
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MacInWin

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What application are you using? (and while you are at it, what Mac, what OS, what keyboard might be of help)
 
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MacInWin

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In Pages, CTRL-CMD "+" changes the font to superscript (Remember to use SHIFT to get the "+" key. CTRL-CMD "-" makes a font subscript. The font remains the same (assuming the font has super/subscript characters). The controls are toggles, so CTRL-CMD "+" once turns superscript on, a second time turns it off. Also, you can select text, then trigger the toggle and it will shift that set of text.

But that trick does not work here, so it's not universal.
 

chscag

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If by chance you're using or have MS Office 2011, activate the Equation Editor. That will allow you to use superscript, subscript, and other chemical equation notations. Superscript and subscript are also available for use in Word.
 
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chas_m

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I was going to say there are two ways of getting a superscript: the proper way (outlined above) and just raising the baseline and reducing the font size of a number. The second way messes up linespacing something awful.
 
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Superscripts

I've been trying to make superscript numbers through the special characters table, which is available across all applications. My OS version is 10.8.4. The table contains a full set of both sub- and superscript numbers. When inside a specific application such as the ones mentioned above, the methods you mention can be used, of course, but when writing in online forums of various kinds, the special characters table is more convenient. In editors that have different fonts, such as this one, you can choose a font where the raised 1, 2 and 3 aren't different, but many of the more popular forums don't give you a choice of font.

Curiously, it seems both Mac and Windows users see them okay, they only look different on my side. So maybe I shouldn't worry. It is a little annoying, though.
 

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