8.38.1 Top new questions this week

8.38.1.1 Is there microtype support for plain TeX?
8.38.1.2 What happens when a package patches another, and then the original one is reloaded?
8.38.1.3 Extra spacing on the left of operator?
8.38.1.4 Tikz lines don't intersect nicely
8.38.1.5 Equation alignment with varying number of columns
8.38.1.6 Why are size of words in two tables not same?
8.38.1.7 How to draw bracket trees in tikz?
8.38.1.1 Is there microtype support for plain TeX?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=646769

Is there code to make the microtypography primitives, particularly font expansion, usable with the plain TeX format running with native PDF-output engines (namely pdfTeX and LuaTeX)? 
I don't think the ... 
[plain-tex] [microtype] [font-expansion]
 
asked by Karl Berry https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=63279 Score of 14
answered by Robert https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=7674 Score of 15
8.38.1.2 What happens when a package patches another, and then the original one is reloaded?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=646810

I'm in the process of cleaning up my class file and I'm unclear as for the proper order of some lines. For example (replacing \RequirePackage with \usepackage and putting this in a MWE): 
\... 
[packages] [documentclass-writing]
 
asked by Miyase https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=267211 Score of 10
answered by Phelype Oleinik https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=134574 Score of 13
8.38.1.3 Extra spacing on the left of operator?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=646942

When I have an operator (\sin,\det, or defined with \operatorname, \DeclareMathOperator) enclosed in |...|, it seems that there is an extra spacing on the left. 
See the output of $|\sin x|$ $\lvert \... 
[spacing] [math-operators]
 
asked by Calvin Khor https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=48773 Score of 9
answered by egreg https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=4427 Score of 14
8.38.1.4 Tikz lines don't intersect nicely

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=647074

I have an issue where my lines create a non-perfect corner when they intersect. I don't really want to make a huge cycle since it's a large drawing. 
\begin{tikzpicture} 
\draw[very thick] (0,0) -- (... 
[tikz-pgf]
 
asked by jackson https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=255937 Score of 7
answered by Rmano https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=38080 Score of 9
8.38.1.5 Equation alignment with varying number of columns

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=646701

How do I align an optimization statement where the number of columns varies in each row? I'm trying to align the summation symbols, equation signs within the "subject to" section, and any &... 
[equations] [align] [amsmath] [alignat]
 
asked by DivideByZero https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=117288 Score of 7
answered by Mico https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5001 Score of 7
8.38.1.6 Why are size of words in two tables not same?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=647104

Why does the words in the top table are bigger than ones in the bottom table?  How can I make it the same size with the bottom ones (make it smaller)? 
\documentclass[journal]{IEEEtran} 
\usepackage{... 
[tables] [ieeetran]
 
asked by hana https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=267361 Score of 6
answered by Mico https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5001 Score of 6
8.38.1.7 How to draw bracket trees in tikz?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=646949

How to draw bracket trees in tikz? 
for example 
bob {dave 
eve 
alice {              francis 
carol -- { grace 
hans 
[tikz-pgf]
 
asked by 1900011604 https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=231103 Score of 6
answered by Ignasi https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=1952 Score of 19