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Subscripts

Subscripts are characters that are set below the baseline and smaller than the surrounding text. They are used to convey additional information without expanding the line height, such as indices, chemical formulas, or mathematical notation.

In mathematics, subscripts indicate indices of elements in sequences or components of vectors and matrices. Examples

In chemistry, subscripts specify the number of atoms of an element in a molecule, as in H2O

In computing and data notation, subscripts denote array indices or components of data structures, e.g., A[i] or

Rendering and encoding: Subscripts are produced by typographic features in word processors and via the HTML

Subscripts should be distinguished from superscripts, which are placed above the baseline and are used for

include
a_i
as
the
i-th
element
of
a
sequence
a,
or
x_j
as
the
j-th
component
of
a
vector
x.
or
CO2.
x_k.
They
appear
in
algorithms,
tensors,
and
scientific
notation.
<sub>
element.
Unicode
provides
a
limited
set
of
subscript
characters
(for
digits
and
a
few
letters);
for
full
alphabets,
use
formatting
or
images.
Subscripts
can
affect
line
height
and
alignment,
and
accessibility
considerations
apply
for
screen
readers.
exponents
and
footnotes.