Have equations been fixed in PowerPoint 2007?

[Guest]

In PowerPoint 2003, there is no way to create an inline equation, i.e., an
equation that automatically moves when text is inserted or deleted, as
opposed to a floating object equation. Also, there is no way to generate
auto-numbered equations. I've seen the promotional information on PowerPoint
2007, but can't tell from that whether these problems are fixed. Does anyone
know whether PowerPoint 2007 addresses these issues?

 

[Bob Mathews]

In PowerPoint 2003, there is no way to create an inline
equation, i.e., an equation that automatically moves when
text is inserted or deleted, as opposed to a floating object
equation. Also, there is no way to generate auto-numbered
equations. I've seen the promotional information on
PowerPoint 2007, but can't tell from that whether these
problems are fixed. Does anyone know whether PowerPoint
2007 addresses these issues?

Neither of these issues has changed in PowerPoint 2007. With
regard to the issue of inline equations, I give a couple of
work-arounds in my tutorial "Using MathType with PowerPoint". You
can see this tutorial and others on our web site at
www.dessci.com/tutorials.

For the second issue, I have no evidence to suggest this is
anything Microsoft has even considered. Our company creates
MathType, the upgrade to Microsoft Equation (aka "Equation
Editor"), and MathType has a way to auto-number equations, but
this feature is only available in Word. Clearly this is something
that would be useful to you in PowerPoint, so if you'll send us
your ideas about how you would use auto-numbered equations in
PPT, we'll be glad to at least consider it for a future release.
We appreciate hearing from our customers with any issues,
especially feature requests.

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[Guest]

I'd like to have autonumbered equations in PowerPoint, where the equation
number is cumulative over all equations on all slides.

Thanks!

Phillip

 

[Drew]

I'm creating a powerpoint presentation for a physics project, and that inline
equations do not exist is absolutely atrocious. I'm trying my hardest to
imagine how what seems would be such an easy to do addition in powerpoint
(i.e. the addition of the layout tab that you see for equation object in
word) has never made its way into the scene.

 

[Bob Mathews]

That would be a welcome feature indeed, but it doesn't appear as if
Microsoft has any interest in that direction. Unfortunately, PPT 2007
is the same as all other versions of PPT in that regard; you're still
limited to floating equations. One option is to create the entire
bullet (bullet character, text, & equation) in MathType. This is one
of the suggestions we make in our Application Note on "Using MathType
with PowerPoint":
http://www.dessci.com/en/support/mathtype/appnotes/mt_ppt/default.htm

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[Phillip M. Feldman]

Bob-

I've read your application note, and as far as I can tell, this does not
solve the problem. The MathType object is still a floating object that must
be manually repositioned whenever the text changes.

Phillip

 

[Bob Mathews]

Phillip,

You're correct that it's still a floating object. The problem this
solves is that of aligning the mathematical expression with the
surrounding text. Since the text is created in MathType, it's part of
the MathType object. A slide created this way may have several
bullets, each one of which is created in MathType. Each bullet is a
floating object, so they all must be aligned with each other. That's a
lot easier and less time-consuming than properly placing and aligning
an equation in the middle of a sentence.

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[Murphy Waggoner]

I find that by replacing the usual bullet box with a Word object, I can
easily edit equations. If I want bullets, I choose bullets in Word. Since
Word can accommodate inline equations, the equations are not floating
objects, but truly inline.