Guide to LaTeX (4th Edition) (Tools and Techniques

\tiny smallest
\scriptsize very small
\footnotesize smaller
\small small
\normalsize normal
\large large
4.1. Changing font 63
\Large larger
\LARGE even larger
\huge still larger
\Huge largest
all of which are relative to the standard size selected in the document
class option. In this book, the standard size is 10 pt, which is then the
size selected with \normalsize.
The font size declarations behave as all other declarations: they make
an immediate change that remains in effect until counteracted by another
size declaration, or until the current environment comes to an end. If
issued within curly braces {..}, the effect of the declaration extends only
to the closing brace, as in a nameless environment:
normal {\large large \Large larger} normal again
normal large larger normal again
Changing the font size with one of the above commands also automatically
! changes the interline spacing. For every font size, there is a corresponding natural
line spacing \baselineskip. This may be altered at any time. If the natural
line spacing is 12 pt, the command \setlength{\baselineskip}{15pt} will
increase it to 15 pt.
The value of \baselineskip that is effective at the end of the paragraph
is used to make up the whole paragraph. This means that if there are several
changes to \baselineskip within a paragraph, only the last value given will be
taken into account.
With every change in font size, \baselineskip is reset to its natural value
for that size. Any previous setting with \setlength will be nullified.
In order to create a change in the line spacing that is valid for all font sizes,
one must make use of the factor \baselinestretch, which has a normal value
of 1. The true interline spacing is really
\baselinestretch×\baselineskip
which maintains the same relative spacing for all font sizes. The user may change
this spacing at any time with:
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{factor}
where factor is any decimal number. A value of 1.5 increases the interline spacing
(baseline to baseline) by 50% over its natural size for all font sizes.
The new value of \baselinestretch does not take effect until the next
change in font size. In order to implement a new value in the current font size, it
is necessary to switch to another size and back again immediately. If the present
font size is \normalsize, the sequence
\small\normalsize
will do the trick. Any size command may be used in place of \small.