LaTeX font size

LaTeX font size

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LaTeX font size

Per default latex use a font size of 10pt (depending of the used documentclass article, report, book und letter ) . This could be changed to 11pt or 12pt as a option of documentclass. That does not mean that only these three sizes can be used, it is only the size of the normalsize font. Later changes in the document then refer to this settings. By following commands the size can be changed within a document.

Note: Other documentclasses have other default font sizes!

For example documentclass memoir has 12 font sizes:
9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt, 20pt, 25pt, 30pt, 36pt, 48pt and 60pt

Or the beamer class for presentation has 8 font sizes:
8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt and 20pt.

1.1 change font size

The font size of single words, paragraphs or the whole text can be changed. By the following ten commands:
\tiny \large
\scriptsize \Large
\footnotesize \LARGE
\small \huge
\normalsize \Huge

How to change the size of a word:

{\command word}

example
{\huge huge}

output: huge

How to change the size of an area:
\begin{\command}
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document. 
\end{\command}
example
\begin{small}
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document. 
\end{small}

output:
This part should be smaller then the rest of the document.

the commands could be used as a switcher:

\command

example
text before \huge after
output: text before after

The effect of these commands is as long as is until the next command or the document is finished. For example, to switch back to the normal font size, then you have to add a \normalsize.

The following table shows the changes in font size depending on the selected standard font size (article, report, book und letter):

standard font size
command 10pt 11pt 12pt
\tiny 5pt 6pt 6pt
\scriptsize 7pt 8pt 8pt
\footnotesize 8pt 9pt 10pt
\small 9pt 10pt 11pt
\normalsize 10pt 11pt 12pt
\large 12pt 12pt 14pt
\Large 14pt 14pt 17pt
\LARGE 17pt 17pt 20pt
\huge 20pt 20pt 25pt
\Huge 25pt 25pt 25pt



The documentclass memoir has two additional size commands:\miniscule which is smaller then \tiny and \HUGE which is bigger then \Huge.


standard font size
command 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt
\miniscule 4pt 5pt 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt
\tiny 5pt 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt
\scriptsize 6pt 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt
\footnotesize 7pt 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt
\small 8pt 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt
\normalsize 9pt 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt
\large 10pt 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt
\Large 11pt 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt
\LARGE 12pt 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt
\huge 14pt 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt
\Huge 17pt 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt 120pt
\HUGE 20pt 25pt 30pt 36pt 48pt 60pt 72pt 84pt 96pt 108pt 120pt 132pt

The documentclass beamer class
 standard font size
command8pt9pt10pt11pt12pt14pt17pt20pt
tiny5pt5pt5pt6pt6pt6pt8pt10pt
scriptsize 5pt6pt7pt8pt8pt8pt10pt12pt
footnotesize6pt7pt8pt9pt10pt10pt12pt14pt
small7pt8pt9pt10pt11pt12pt14pt17pt
normalsize8pt9pt10pt11pt12pt14pt17pt20pt
large10pt10pt12pt12pt14pt17pt20pt25pt
Large11pt11pt14pt14pt17pt20pt25pt29.86pt
LARGE12pt12pt17pt17pt20pt25pt29.86pt35.83pt
huge14pt14pt20pt20pt25pt29.86pt35.83pt42.99pt
Huge17pt17pt25pt25pt25pt35.83pt42.99pt51.59pt

1.2 other font size

By using the default classes and sizes, one can use 12 different font sizes: 5pt, 6pt, 7pt, 8pt, 9pt, 10pt, 11pt, 12pt, 14pt, 17pt, 20pt and 25pt.
To use more, one need first To use more font sizes, you first need a font in which has the desired size, i.e. not all fonts allow all sizes. If you use a size which is not provided by the font, you get an error message like this:

LaTeX Font Warning: Size substitutions with differences
(Font)              up to 4.17pt have occurred.

This means that the desired size is not available and the closest matching size is 4.17pt (points) away from the desired one.

1.2.1 command to change font size

First, use a font like lmodern and then you can set the font size:
{\fontsize{font size}{base line strech} \selectfont}

example
\documentclass{article}
…
\usepackage{lmodern}
…
\begin{document}
…
{\fontsize{40}{48} \selectfont Text}
output: Text



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