Too many alphabets, how to avoid this error?

Question

I'm having a problem when I try to use too many different types of math symbols in LaTeX, such as in this example:

documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
usepackage{amsmath}
usepackage{latexsym}
usepackage{dsfont}
usepackage{gensymb}
usepackage{amssymb}
usepackage{authblk}
usepackage{amstext}
usepackage{amsfonts}
usepackage{amsthm}
usepackage{mathtools}
usepackage{upgreek}
usepackage{textcomp}
usepackage{bm}
usepackage[mathscr]{euscript}
leteuscrmathscr letmathscrrelax
usepackage[scr]{rsfso}
usepackage{siunitx}
usepackage[e]{esvect}
begin{document}
$mathbb{R}mathscr{P}euscr{B}mathcal{C}vv{x_0}$
end{document}

When I try to compile that, the following error message appears in the terminal:

! LaTeX Error: Too many math alphabets used in version normal.

See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...

l.21 $mathbb{R}mathscr{P}
                           euscr{B}mathcal{C}vv{x_0}$
?

What can I do to use more alphabets? I actually need all of those math symbols in my document.

egreg · Accepted Answer

First of all, remove latexsym and gensymb that add nothing really useful: the former is covered by amssymb and the latter’s symbols can easily be produced in a different way.

This already saves two math groups. Also loading dsfont is dubious, unless you want two different doublestroke fonts.

Probably also upgreek is inessential.

As a side note, amsfonts is automatically loaded by amssymb and amstext by amsmath.

documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
usepackage{amsmath}
usepackage{mathtools}
usepackage{amssymb}
usepackage{amsthm}
usepackage{upgreek}
usepackage{authblk}
usepackage{textcomp}
usepackage{bm}
usepackage{siunitx}

% more calligraphic fonts
usepackage[mathscr]{euscript}
leteuscrmathscr letmathscrrelax
usepackage[scr]{rsfso}

begin{document}

$mathbb{R}mathscr{P}euscr{B}mathcal{C}$

end{document}

With this, the last allocated math group is 14. If you get into troubles later on, the only feasible alternative is to define some of the calligraphic fonts in a different way.

documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
usepackage{amsmath}
usepackage{mathtools}
usepackage{amssymb}
usepackage{amsthm}
usepackage{upgreek}
usepackage{authblk}
usepackage{textcomp}
usepackage{bm}
usepackage{siunitx}

% more calligraphic fonts
DeclareRobustCommand{euscr}[1]{%
  text{usefont{U}{eus}{m}{n}#1}%
}
DeclareRobustCommand{mathscr}[1]{%
  text{usefont{U}{rsfso}{m}{n}#1}%
}

begin{document}

$mathbb{R}mathscr{P}euscr{B}mathcal{C}$

end{document}

No bold version, but I don't think you need it: it's already difficult to distinguish between euscr{C} and mathcal{C}.

David Carlisle · Answer

The posted document runs without error if you use xelatex or lualatex which have 256 rather than 16 available math alphabets per math version.

ederag · Answer

This new answer is there only to give an example, and a heads up to this previous answer.

A complementary solution to egreg's one (cleanup first) is to reduce the number of alphabets used by bm
- which in turn is used by amssymb :

newcommandhmmax{0}
newcommandbmmax{0}

before usepackage{amssymb}

documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
usepackage{amsmath}
usepackage{latexsym}
usepackage{dsfont}
usepackage{gensymb}

% put these before amssymb
% to avoid ``Too many math alphabets used in version normal.''
% cf. https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/243541/91665
newcommand{hmmax}{0}
newcommand{bmmax}{0}
usepackage{amssymb}

usepackage{authblk}
usepackage{amstext}
usepackage{amsfonts}
usepackage{amsthm}
usepackage{mathtools}
usepackage{upgreek}
usepackage{textcomp}
usepackage{bm}
usepackage[mathscr]{euscript}
leteuscrmathscr letmathscrrelax
usepackage[scr]{rsfso}
usepackage{siunitx}
usepackage[e]{esvect}
begin{document}
$mathbb{R}mathscr{P}euscr{B}mathcal{C}vv{x_0}$
end{document}

GLemyre · Answer

I ran into the same issue, and in my case, simply removing the package bm was sufficient to remove the error message.

Too many alphabets, how to avoid this error?

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