CSS vertical align different text size

Question

Assuming the following HTML:

​<p><span style="font-size: 40px;">A</span>a​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​</p>​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Is it possible to get the second character to align to the center of the first?

Actual Result

The second character is aligned to the bottom of the first character in this example:

Expected Result

However, I want the second character to be aligned to the middle of the first character:

Answer 1

Add vertical-align:middle; to the <span> (example):

<p><span style="font-size: 40px;vertical-align: middle;">A</span>a</p>​​​​​​​​​​​​

Answer 2

Just add in the vertical-align:middle; style.

http://jsfiddle.net/uEu6B/1/