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General Tip #1: Use the help file Tip #2: Keyboard shortcut "Top 10" Tip #3: Editing equations in a separate window rather than "in-place" Tip #4: Formatting equations with numbers to th

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Products > Equation Editor Equation Editor Tips & Tricks Here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Equation Editor Except where indicated, these tips should work for all versions of Equation Editor and for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms We intend to keep adding more tips in the future, so bookmark this page so you can check back later In fact, if you have any Equation Editor tips you would like to share with others, send them to support@dessci.com Some of these tips assume you are using Equation Editor with some version of Microsoft Word Users of other word processors can often make use of these tips but will have to adjust the steps to their own situation

General Tip #1: Use the help file

Tip #2: Keyboard shortcut "Top 10"

Tip #3: Editing equations in a separate window rather than "in-place"

Tip #4: Formatting equations with numbers to the right Tip #5: Automatically numbered equations

Tip #6: Kerning headlines Tip #7: Using a word processing document as an equation library Tip #8: Using a word processor's "glossary" feature as an equation library Tip #9: Equation Editor can be used with almost any other application Tip #10: Keep an Equation Editor window open as an equation scratchpad Tip #11: Keep an Equation Editor window open to make equations open faster

Formatting equations Tip #12 Template "wrapping" and replacement

Tip #13: Putting a box around an equation Tip #14: Use matrices to create simple blank grids Tip #15: Use matrices to create pictographs

Search

Tip #16: Use matrices to format a system of equations or inequalities Tip #17: Placing an arc over more than one character

Tip #18: Grade-school arithmetic

Microsoft Office Tip #19: Creating a toolbar button in Microsoft Word that inserts an equation

Tip #20: Getting around "float on top" problems with Microsoft Word Tip #21: Animated equations in PowerPoint

Tip #22: To change the color of an equation inserted into PowerPoint Tip #23: Use Equation Editor to label graphs or drawings

MathType Tip #24: The ultimate Equation Editor tip: upgrade to MathType

Tip #1: Use the help file

Although this may seem obvious, our technical support department gets many calls from Equation Editor users with questions that are answered in its online help file You most likely will find something useful just by browsing through it when you have an otherwise idle moment To get to the help, choose Equation Editor Help from the Help menu in Equation Editor itself

Tip #2: Keyboard shortcut "Top 10"

Here are some of the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts in Equation Editor Of course, there are many more and which ones you use the most will depend on what kind of math you write Check the Equation Editor help file for more shortcuts

Inserting Greek letters Ctrl+G, followed by a letter key Cmd+G, followed by a letter key

Subscript Ctrl+L ("low") Cmd+L ("low") Square root Ctrl+R ("root" or "radical") Cmd+R ("root" or "radical")

Thin space (e.g before "dx" in an

By the way, MathType 5.0 for Windows takes keyboard shortcuts even further: it allows you to customize them and let you create shortcuts that consist of one or two keystrokes Click here to find out more about MathType

Tip #3: Editing equations in a separate window rather than "in-place"

Some Equation Editor users prefer to have a separate window open each time they create or edit an equation, rather than the default "in-place" editing There are several possible reasons to prefer "open mode" editing over in-place:

● The viewing scale of the equation windows can be controlled independently of the viewing scale of the word processing or presentation window Whereas you might want to edit your document at a scale of 100% or 125%, equations are sometimes hard to read and edit at such scales We recommend using 200% scale in your

equation windows

● The menus and toolbars of your word processor don't jump around when switching back-and-forth between equation editing and document editing

Here's how you can change your Equation Editor installation to force separate equation windows to open:

Windows:

Save the force_open.reg file whose link is below to your hard disk (anywhere is fine; it is a very small file) You can do

this by right-clicking on the link, then selecting Save Target As Then, using the Windows Explorer or the Run command

on the Start menu, run the downloaded file This will cause Window's RegEdit program to read the file and make the appropriate changes in the registry Use the in_place.reg file in similar fashion if you want to reverse this and go back to editing equations in-place

● force_open.reg

● in_place.reg

Macintosh:

Note: Microsoft Word 98 no longer supports in-place editing, so this is not an issue Don't try to make Equation Editor

do in-place editing with Word 98, it won't work.

Run the SimpleText program, open the "Equation Editor Preferences" file in the Preferences folder of the System Folder This file is broken up into sections; look for the section labeled "[General]" Look for a line that sets the ForceOpen variable, if there is one If not, insert a line right after the [General] label that looks like this:

ForceOpen = 1

If the ForceOpen line was already there, just change the number after the equal sign to 1 Quit the SimpleText program and, when it asks you, save changes to the file Now Equation Editor should open in a separate window

To reverse this, and make Equation Editor do in-place editing, just open the file again and change the ForceOpen value

to 0

Tip #4: Formatting equations with numbers to the right

This is one of our most frequently asked technical support questions Display equations are equations that are placed in their own paragraph, as opposed to "inline" or "text" equations which are placed in the same line as normal text

Although there are many ways to format these, the most common is to center the equation between the margins and insert an equation number to the right of the equation, flush against the right margin This is easy to do in most, if not all, word processors The basic idea is to place a centering tab-stop centered between the left and right margins, and a right-justifying tab-stop placed exactly on the right margin For each equation, create a single paragraph containing the following items from left-to-right: a tab, the equation, another tab, the equation number

Here's what this looks like in Microsoft Word (the tab-stops have been circled in red):

Once you have mastered this technique, you can gain a little more efficiency by creating a paragraph style that contains the tab-stop arrangement One you have such a style, you can simply apply it to your display equations

This situation is so common that MathType 5.0 adds a toolbar button that automates the whole thing You can see it in the picture above, it's the third button from the left Click here to find out more about MathType

That said, you can do the same thing without MathType, it's just a little more work This is the subject of the next tip

Tip #5: Automatically numbered equations

One obvious way to number equations is by simply typing numbers next to your equations and updating them manually whenever an equation is inserted or deleted If you have only a few equations in your document, this isn't too much trouble But, if you have long documents with many equations, this can really be tedious and time-consuming This tip uses some of the more powerful features of today's word processors to automate the renumbering process Although this procedure is described using Microsoft Word, many word processors have analogous features Just look for

"numbering" in your word processor's online help or user manual

Inserting a sequenced equation number

Here's how to insert an automatically resequencing number in Microsoft Word:

1 We'll start assuming you have inserted a display equation as in the previous tip, but leave out the equation number

2 Now, with the insertion point placed where the equation number should go, use the Insert Field command to insert a SEQ (sequence) field

3 In the Field dialog, choose SEQ from the Field Names list SEQ will also appear in the field command area at the bottom of the dialog

4 In the field command area, add " EqnNum" after SEQ so it reads "SEQ EqnNum" EqnNum is an arbitrary variable name that Word will increment each time you insert a new equation number using this same variable name

5 Close the dialog The new field will show up in your document as "1" The next one you insert will show up as

"2"

Resequencing the equation numbers after changes to the document

Now, let's pretend you have done this several times in your document So now you have sequentially numbered equations Now let's say you decide to insert another numbered equation in the middle of your document Now the equation numbers will be out-of-sequence To get them back in sequence, select the entire document and type F9 Like magic, all the numbers will be put back in order Word also has a handy feature to do this every time you print the document

Advanced techniques

The process of going through the Insert Field command every time can be improved upon Here are some ways to speed this up:

● You can use Word's macro recording facilities to record these steps and assign them to a toolbar button, a menu command, a keystroke shortcut, or all three

● You can use Word's AutoText feature to insert the equation number by assigning it a keyword that, once typed, will be replaced by the equation number This can be extended to insert an placeholder equation along with tabs (see Tip #4) You can then double-click on the dummy equation and change it into the real one

In complicated documents, equation numbers may need to be in the form of <section number>.<equation number> You can do this using two different sequence variables, one for the equation number and one for the section number

You will need to learn some details on how Word's field codes work to pull this off In particular, you need to know how

to re-start the equation number at the top of each section and how to use the section number without making it increment each time Just refer to Word's documentation and help to find out how to do this

MathType will take care of all of this for you It even gives you some choices on how the equation number is formatted

Tip #6: Kerning headlines

This tip has nothing to do with mathematics or equations You can use Equation Editor's nudging command for a quick and easy way to kern headlines or headings in a document Kerning is the professional's term for adjusting the spacing between characters to improve their appearance Following is an example of a headline using unkerned text and then the same headline kerned using Equation Editor:

Unkerned:

Kerned:

You can see how much more even the kerned version appears High-quality fonts have kerning information built into them and some, but not all, applications make use of this information But, often, manual kerning is the only solution

To create a manually kerned headline, follow these steps:

1 Insert an equation where you want the headline to be

2 Set the font and size you want the headline to be using Equation Editor's Other Style and Other Size commands

3 Type the headline

4 Find the first pair of characters from the left whose spacing you want to adjust

5 Select the text from the rightmost character of the pair to the right end of the text

6 While holding the Ctrl key down (use the Command key on the Macintosh), use the right and left arrow keys to adjust the spacing to your liking

7 Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each pair of characters you want to kern

Kerning can be a little tedious, so if you have some words you use in headlines often, save them in a word processing document for later use By coincidence, this happens to be the subject of our next tip!

Tip #7: Using a word processing document as an equation library

Mathematics can be a very repetitive business If you teach mathematics, you probably end up using the same equations again and again If you are doing research, each equation may be different, but the same expressions show

up again and again Rather than typing in the same expression each time, use a word processing document to keep track of your commonly used expressions To some of you, this may seem obvious, but there are some nuances we describe here that you may not have thought of

Modern word processors give you the ability to work with more than one document at a time This lets you keep open the document you are creating as well as a document that you maintain as a library of equations and expressions We won't cover the details of document creation here as they differ from word processor to word processor Also, you probably know how to do this already If not, consult your application's documentation

What we are going to describe are some tips for getting the most out of this technique In the following, we will refer to

the document containing your often-used expressions and equations as the "library document" and the document that you are in the process of creating as the "work document"

Note: Most of the techniques covered here will only work if you allow Equation Editor to open equations as separate

windows See Tip #3

● Besides using cut-and-paste (or drag-and-drop) to transfer entire equations from your library document to the work document, you can use cut-and-paste to transfer expressions from the library document directly into the Equation Editor window This way you can make building complex equations much easier

● You can create a keyword index to the expressions in you library document by simply typing keywords next to each expression When you want to locate an expression by a keyword, just use your word processor's Find command

● To get maximum benefit from these techniques, it might be helpful to learn your word processor's keyboard shortcuts for switching between multiple open documents For example, Microsoft Word for Windows uses Ctrl +F6 to do this You should be able to find these out by looking in your word processor's online help Similarly, you may want to learn your operating system's keyboard shortcut to switch between applications This will come

in handy for switching from your word processor to an open Equation Editor windows and back For Windows users, this is Alt-Tab

See the next tip for an alternative (or complementary) technique for saving equations and expressions for later use

Tip #8: Using a word processor's "glossary" feature as an equation library

A related, but separate, technique for saving common equations and expressions is to use your word processor's

"glossary" feature Word processors use different names for this feature (Microsoft Word calls it "AutoText") but, basically, it consists of the ability to associate a long word, picture, paragraph, chapter, or whatever with a simple, easy-to-type word or acronym At Design Science, for example, we can set up our word processor to enter "Design Science" every time we type "DS"

Most modern word processors allow a glossary entry to contain equations as well as text If this is the case with your word processor, you can use this feature to associate "quadratic" with an equation containing the quadratic formula, for instance Consult your word processor's documentation to learn the details of its glossary feature

Of course, this technique can be used together with the equation library document technique discussed in the last tip Here are some pros and cons to help you decide which technique to use:

● An expression may be inserted into your document much more quickly using the glossary because you don't have to switch windows This makes it practical to use a glossary entry for a single character (e.g "alpha" for the first Greek letter)

● It is easier to browse your equation library visually than the contents of the glossary The glossary only works for expressions to which you can associate a memorable word or phrase

● It is likely that you'll find it easier to add expressions to the library document than the glossary because you'll use the same features in everyday document editing

● The equation library document is easier to share with other people because it can be printed, emailed, etc

MathType has its own features for saving commonly used expressions, equations, and symbols You can place them on its toolbar and, later, you simply click on the item to insert it straight into the equation This virtually eliminates the need for the techniques discussed in this tip and the previous one Click here to find out more about MathType We also have a tutorial that explains how to use Word's AutoText and AutoCorrect very effectively with Equation Editor and MathType

Tip #9: Equation Editor can be used with almost any other application

Although you got Equation Editor as part of some software package (most likely Microsoft Word or Works), it is a separate application This means it can be used with virtually any other application you might use For example, you might use a drawing program to graph some mathematical function You can use Equation Editor to label the curve with its equation Equations can even be added to records in a database

Finding the best way to make Equation Editor work with another application depends largely on that application's features Here, in order of preference, are the two ways Equation Editor can be used with another application:

● If the application is OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) compatible, look for an Insert Object command Most Windows applications are OLE-compatible; on the Macintosh, this is pretty much limited to Microsoft applications Some applications may support OLE but not have an Insert Object command To find out how (or if) your

application supports inserting objects, look for "OLE" or "object" in the index of its documentation

● Run Equation Editor as a separate application (see below), create equations in the Equation Editor window, and then use cut-and-paste to transfer each equation into your application If the target application is

OLE-compatible, the result of the paste will be an OLE object If not, it will be pasted as a picture

To run Equation Editor as a separate application, you need to find where Equation Editor is stored on your computer's hard disk This is covered in the next tip

With MathType, you can place equations in an even larger set of document types because it can save equations as files Using EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), you can work with professional desktop publishing applications To create web pages with mathematics, save your equations as GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) files Click here to find out more about MathType

Tip #10: Keep an Equation Editor window open as an equation scratchpad

Although we already gave you some tips on saving often-used equations and expressions (see Tip #7 and Tip #8), it may also be useful to keep an Equation Editor window open for use as an equation scratchpad The easiest way to do this is to run Equation Editor as a separate application To make this convenient, you need to find out where Equation Editor is located on your computer's hard disk and make a shortcut to it Here's how to do this:

● Windows: Use the Find Files or Folders command on the Start menu to find a file named EQNEDT32.EXE (or EQNEDIT.EXE on some systems) Once you have found the file, make a shortcut to it on your desktop or in the Start menu Consult your Windows documentation if you don't know how to do this

● Macintosh: Use the Find command on the Finder's File menu to find a file named "Equation Editor" Once you have found this file, you can make an alias to it and put it on your desktop or in the Apple menu Consult your Macintosh documentation if you don't know how to do this

Whenever you start working with equations, first run Equation Editor by using the shortcut you created Equation Editor will open a new empty equation window that is not associated with any equation in any document You can use this window as a scratchpad, placing any equation or expression in it you want and using cut-and-paste to transfer expressions into the equations you create Once you have started Equation Editor this way, you still insert new equations as you usually do Make sure you don't close the Equation Editor scratchpad window until you are done working with equations However, if you accidentally close it, just start Equation Editor again using the shortcut

Starting Equation Editor as a separate application has another advantage, which we discuss in the next tip

MathType contains a New command on its File menu and, therefore, you can create a scratchpad window any time you want You can also open as many as you want The MathType installer automatically creates the shortcut you need to run it as a separate application Click here to find out more about MathType

Tip #11: Keep an Equation Editor window open to make equations open faster

In the last tip, we showed you how to run Equation Editor as a separate application We won't repeat that process here, refer to it if you need to Here, we want to tell you about an added benefit of running Equation Editor this way: speed

Whenever you insert an equation into your document, or edit an existing equation, and Equation Editor is not already running, it must be started Although your word processor takes care of this automatically, it may result in a perceptible delay (exactly how much depends on the speed of your computer and other factors) If, instead, you start Equation Editor by itself and keep it running throughout your document-editing session, it will respond faster whenever you need

it for equation editing

MathType for Windows takes this technique a step or two further with its "server mode" feature You can start MathType

up in server mode and it will stay in memory until you tell it to quit or it will quit automatically after some period of inactivity (that you can set) Also, you don't have to remember to start MathType up in server mode before starting to

work with equations There is a preference option that will cause MathType to start in server mode on the first equation operation Click here to find out more about MathType

Tip #12: Template "wrapping" and replacement

Have you ever typed an equation, then realized it would be easier to read if this big expression were enclosed in parentheses? Or, perhaps your equation uses a summation template without limits, then you decide it really must have limits after all Both of these situations can be handled quickly without having to re-type the equation or do a big cut-and-paste job What you need is template wrapping in the first case and template replacement in the second

Template wrapping

To demonstrate template wrapping, we'll take an example from one of the tutorials in the MathType manual Let's start with a common statistical formula:

But now we notice a problem! The 1/n should apply to the entire right side of the equation Let's indicate this by putting parentheses around it and, because we want the parentheses to be big enough to unambiguously enclose the

expression, we'll use a parenthesis template Wrapping is easy! Just select the part of the equation to be wrapped:

then insert the wrapping template in the normal way An inserted template will wrap itself around anything that is selected So now our expression looks like this: