Writing maths on comp?

Nappy

Anyone know how I can write maths equations correctly on a computer. Do I have to download a program. For example, like writing the squareroot sign, using the brackets. All the various symbols..

RedXIV

what program are you using? Microsoft word has "import" -> "symbol" -> "mathematical symbols" on it for example?

Fremen

Word is OK, but if you're doing anything longer than a couple of pages, I recommend you learn to use LaTeX. You have to invest a bit of time, and it's much slower than Word at first, but in the long run it's worth the effort. You can make professional-looking PDFs with it.

Just google for "install Latex" if you decide to go down this route, you'll find plenty of sites to help you out.

silverside

MS Word has some maths symbols

however for any serious amount of equations I recommend you learn TeX - using a package like MikTeX - I use WinEdt + MikTex

Its an equation markup language, it takes a little while to learn but is way quicker to use once you know it

professorpete

+1 about the TeX languages, it's the only way to fly..

I do remember when doing my thesis that a few people weren't bothered learning LaTeX and that, so there was a WYSIWYG - style program that output similar to TeX but input was along the lines of word; ie if you want an integral sign, you click integral, and write it as you go..... unfortunately I can't remember the name of the program....sorry!! try googling wysiwyg maths text editor

backboiler

OpenOffice.org includes a mathematical module. It has a pointy-clicky interface (for when you're starting out) but you can also edit using the scripting language directly when you get up to speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Math

Official site: http://www.openoffice.org

LeixlipRed

It's gotta be Latex. Takes some time to get used to it but it's much more powerful than open office/word maths editors.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

+0.5 to Latex and +0.5 to OpenOffice Math as a pretty good substitute.

Julia Set

If there is only a small element of mathematics to be included in a document, I would recommend Insert>Equation in Microsoft Word.

However, if there is a great deal of mathematical content, LaTeX is definitely the one to use. For a WYSIWYG version of this, try LyX (my personal choice).

Link: www.lyx.org

MathsManiac

It has to be said that LaTeX does take a LOT of time to get the hang of. The Equation Editor in Word does everything that most people need unless they're doing a serious amount of mathematical typesetting. (If you're using it more than once or twice, put the button up on your toolbar so you won't have to keep doing "insert...object...MS equation".)

MathType is a souped-up version of equation editor, and just as easy to use.

Also, if you're using Office 2007, then it's worth noting that they completely overhauled the equation typesetting environment from previous Office versions. You can go WYSIWIG or type in LaTeX-like code. A dedicated font is used and it's much more integrated into the rest of the document environment than before, picking up formatting changes, etc. It gives a very professional looking result, I think, but the font options are still limited. (Also, it's not really backward compatible with earlier versions of Word. If you save a document in "compatibility mode", the equations get converted to screen-resolution bitmaps, which is fairly useless.)

Michael Collins

MathsManiac wrote: »

It has to be said that LaTeX does take a LOT of time to get the hang of. The Equation Editor in Word does everything that most people need unless they're doing a serious amount of mathematical typesetting. (If you're using it more than once or twice, put the button up on your toolbar so you won't have to keep doing "insert...object...MS equation".)

MathType is a souped-up version of equation editor, and just as easy to use.

Also, if you're using Office 2007, then it's worth noting that they completely overhauled the equation typesetting environment from previous Office versions. You can go WYSIWIG or type in LaTeX-like code. A dedicated font is used and it's much more integrated into the rest of the document environment than before, picking up formatting changes, etc. It gives a very professional looking result, I think, but the font options are still limited. (Also, it's not really backward compatible with earlier versions of Word. If you save a document in "compatibility mode", the equations get converted to screen-resolution bitmaps, which is fairly useless.)

Yeah, I do agree that Word 2007 is much improved in this respect. You can get quite fast with it using the LaTeX-like commands too. Nevertheless it still does really annoying things.
Also using PowerPoint 2007 with maths equations is a complete joke. They may print out alright, but on a screen they look horrible - which is ridiculous given it's the primary use of the software!

LyX is the way to go if you're doing a lot of mathematical writing, makes writing LaTeX documents very easy. And it can do presentations. The latest versions are a doddle to install in Winodws too.

I pretty sure there's at least one very good program available for the Mac too. I remember a lecturer having some really nice notes typed up - it didn't look like LaTeX and I forgot to ask him how he made em.