How can I take a frame and divide its width by 2? - arrays

Question

I am trying to set up a view that displays out a mathematical equation, with exponents being adjusted for size. I ran into an issue where after applying a scaleEffect to the item in the exponent, the frame of that view remained the same size, leaving empty space where there shouldn't be any.
My goal is very simple: I just need to take the proposed frame width and divide it by 2 in order to match the scaleEffect() applied to its contents. Anything like this works:
.frame(width: originalWidth / 2)
I quickly discovered that there is unexplainably not a single way to just read out the proposed, standard, ideal frame that would be applied to a view in absence of .frame().
That is, aside from Geometry Reader, which is a nightmare to deal with from how it resizes everything, how the data is only accessible within itself, and the fact code inside runs after a .frame() modifier is already applied to a view.
My starting point:
struct StaticEquationView: View {
//Initialization of the master controller
#StateObject var data = DataController()
#State var frameWidth: CGFloat = .zero
#State var frameApplied: Bool = false
var body: some View {
HStack(spacing: 0) {
ForEach($data.blockArray) { $block in
DisplayBlockView(data: data, block: $block)
}
}
}
}
struct DisplayBlockView: View {
#ObservedObject var data: DataController
#Binding var block: Block
var body: some View {
Text(block.label)
HStack(spacing: 0) {
ArrayView(data: data, array: $block.exp)
}
//HERE
.scaleEffect(0.5)
.offset(CGSize(width: 0, height: -10))
}
}
struct ArrayView: View {
#ObservedObject var data: DataController
#Binding var array: [Block]
var body: some View {
HStack {
ForEach($array) { $block in
DisplayBlockView(data: data, block: $block)
}
}
}
}
And here is my unsuccessful attempt at shrinking the frame. Somehow this code would uncontrollably expand the height of the view and shrink the subviews of each individual DisplayBlockView inside ArrayView, all while still keeping some spacing between the edges and the contents of ArrayView.
struct DisplayBlockView: View {
#ObservedObject var data: DataController
#Binding var block: Block
#State var frameWidth: CGFloat = .zero
#State var frameApplied: Bool = false
var body: some View {
Text(block.label)
HStack(spacing: 0) {
ArrayView(data: data, array: $block.exp)
.overlay(GeometryReader { geo in
Text("")
.onAppear() {
frameWidth = geo.size.width * 0.5
frameApplied = true
}
})
}
.frame(width: frameApplied ? frameWidth : nil, height: nil)
.scaleEffect(0.5)
.offset(CGSize(width: 0, height: -10))
.offset(block.cOffset)
.border(Color.gray)
}
}