[OS X TeX] dropped parentheses

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Jul 18, 2021, at 12:29 PM, Nitecki, Zbigniew H. <Zbigniew.Nitecki at tufts.edu> wrote:
> 
> What I thought was a simple macro definition is yielding puzzling results.
> The full testfiles are attached below.  Bottom line:
> with these definitions
>> 
>> \newcommand{\dist}[2]{\ensuremath{\operatorname{dist}(#1,#2)}}% distance function
>> \newcommand{\distsub}[1]{\ensuremath{\operatorname{dist}_{#1}}}%subscripted distance name 
>> \newcommand{\dists}[3]{\ensuremath{\distsub{#1}(#2,#3)}}%subscripted distance function
>> 
>> 
>> \newcommand{\distX}[1]{\ensuremath{\distsub{X}}}
>> \newcommand{\distY}[1]{\ensuremath{\distsub{Y}}}
>> 
> 
> why are my closing parentheses (not part of the macro) dropped?
> 

Howdy,

You define \distX and \distY to have an argument which happens to be the ) which is then absorbed since you don't use it.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
herbs at wideopenwest.com