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More Math Into LaTeX C.2.2 Typesetting (top of page 507)
LaTeX reads the source file one line at a time. It converts the characters of each
line into a token sequence. A token is either a character—together with an indication of
what role the character plays—or a command. The argument of a command is the token
following it unless a group enclosed in braces follows it, in which case the contents of
the group becomes the argument.
An example of this behavior can be seen when you
specify an exponent. LaTeX looks for the next token as the exponent unless a group
enclosed in braces follows the ^ symbol. This explains why \$2^3\$ and \$2^\alpha\$
work, but \$2^\mathfrak{m}\$ does not. Indeed, 3 and \alpha each become a single
token but \mathfrak{m} becomes more than one, four, in fact. Of course, if you always
use braces, as in
\$2^{3}\$, \$2^{\alpha}\$, \$2^{\mathfrak{m}}\$
then you never have to think about tokens to type such expressions.
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