[texhax] Too many math alphabets

[Robin Fairbairns]

> Nobody seems to be responding so I'll try to muddy the waters.  :-)

sorry -- i had put this to one side, to answer later ... but never did.

> Edgar G. Goodaire wrote:
> > I have never seen the error message
> > ! LaTeX Error: Too many math alphabets used in version normal.
> > until today and I have no idea what the problem is.  Can somebody
> > help?
> 
> I looked in Kopka and Daly (4th edn, 2003) where, on page 415, I found
> the summary
> 
> TeX can use only 16 math alphabets. Apparently, you have exceeded this
> limit. Any additional math alphabet definitions are ignored.

which saith the truth, but doesn't help much.

> They also indicate that this error comes up in connection with the
> NFSS (New Font Selection Scheme).
> 
> Goosens, Mittelbach and Samarin discuss "math alphabets" extensively
> on page 174ff.
> 
> At this point I am further in over my head than usual :-)
> but I suspect the next step would be to learn a little more about the
> NFSS.  :-) Alternatively, if you just made a change to something which
> had been working, that would give a hint as to where to start.

this is the right way to go; however, it would be good to know which
packages are in use.  some of them (e.g., bm.sty) have ways of backing
off so as to be less likely to cause the problem.