How do I enter addition & subtraction spaitially with Equation Ed

[Guest]

I am new to using Equation Editor and I am having trouble figuring out how
to enter equations spatially. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

I've never used the equation editor, but I searched the web using Google and
came up with
http://www.uis.edu/ctl/ctlhandouts/EquationEditor.pdf and
http://www.microsoft.com/education/InsertEquation.mspx. Hope this helps.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Can you explain what you mean by "spatially"? The Equation Editor
automatically adds space around operator symbols, and you can add more, if
desired, using the space palette.

If you are wanting to know how to align the equation you insert, if it is in
line with text (recommended), you align it the same way you would any other
text, using paragraph alignment or tabs.

For vertical alignment, it is preferable to "display" the equation on a
separate line. For inline equations, you may need to use Format | Font |
Character Spacing to raise or lower it. There may also be line spacing
issues to deal with in Format | Paragraph.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thank you for your help. What I meant by spatially, is to show the equation
in a vertical format with the plus sign properly placed and the bar between
the numbers being added and the sum. I assume also, that you must use the
keyboard for the addition and subtraction symbols as I have not seen them in
Equation Editor.

Thanks again.

 

[Bob Mathews]

I am new to using Equation Editor and I am having trouble figuring
out how to enter equations spatially. What I meant by spatially, is
to show the equation in a vertical format with the plus sign properly
placed and the bar between the numbers being added and the sum.

First of all, you'll notice two rows of icons on the Equation Editor (EE)
toolbar. Also, you'll notice EE has no menus above the toolbar. When you
open EE in a Word, the EE menus temporarily replace Word's menus. So look
along Word's menu bar and you'll see menus like File, Format, Style, Size,
etc. These are EE menus. You change your font face (Times New Roman, Arial,
etc.) by clicking on Style > Define. Make sure you never set Symbol style to
anything other than Symbol font. LCGreek and UCGreek should also be set to
Symbol. Everything else should probably match whatever font you're using in
Word, but that's up to you. In the Size menu, click Define to set up your
font sizes. Make the Full size the same as in your Word document, and set
everything else to percentages: 58%, 45%, 150%, and 100%, respectively. Be
sure to use the percent symbol, otherwise EE will assume you mean points.
Now when you change to a different size, you only have to change the Full
size specification.

Back to the toolbar icons. The first row of icons contains symbol palettes.
Whenever you point to something in EE with your mouse, it tells you in the
status bar what it is. Look along the bottom of the Word window for the
status bar. For example, if you point to the palette icon in the upper left
of EE's toolbar, the status bar tells you the palette contains "Relational
symbols". Likewise, when you click that palette icon, it expands so you can
select from the various relational operators inside. If you point to the one
in the upper left, the status bar tells you it's the "Less than or equal to"
symbol. And so on.

Now for your question about entering operations spatially. The second row of
palettes on EE's toolbar contains templates. A template is just a mix of
symbols and an empty slot (or two or three) that you fill in with other
symbols and/or templates. For example, a fraction is two empty slots
separated by a horizontal bar. The template you need for spatial addition is
in the "Underbar and overbar templates" palette. See if you can find this on
your own. Inside the "Underbar and overbar templates" palette, you'll find
the "Under-bar" template. Select this one by clicking it with the mouse.

So let's say we want this addition problem:

345
+ 7
____

Notice EE has 2 cursors -- a vertical and a horizontal cursor. These cursors
help you know where you are in the equation structure -- which template slot
you're in, or if you're outside all templates. Since your cursors are inside
the dotted rectangle representing the Under-bar template slot, type 345,
followed by the Enter key. You're still inside the Under-bar template, which
you can tell because the bar moved down, and you're ready to enter the
second line. Enter +7. The 7 isn't far enough to the right, but we'll fix
that. Remember those EE menus (on Word's menu bar)? In the Format menu,
click on "Align right". Now the 5 and the 7 are aligned on the right edge.
If you want more space between the + and the 7, put your cursor to the left
of the 7 (easiest way is with the left arrow key). Hold down the Ctrl key as
you press the spacebar, and you can insert spaces. Probably two spaces is
all you need. (The first Ctrl+space will look like it's not doing anything,
but in reality it's replacing the automatic space EE already inserted after
the + symbol. You'll see the + move to the left when you enter the second
Ctrl+space.)

If that's all you wanted to enter, then you're finished. Press the Esc key
on the keyboard to get back to Word and continue your document. If you need
to enter more stuff in EE, remember you're still inside the Under-bar
template. Press the Tab key to get out of the template. If you wanted to
enter 352 as the sum below the bar, press Enter, then type 352. The 5, 7,
and 2 look pretty-well aligned, but you don't want "pretty-well". You want
perfect, so go back up to the Format menu and click on "Align right" again.
It's necessary to do it again, because the first time you did it, you were
only aligning what's inside the Under-bar template. THAT "Align right" had
nothing to do with what's on the outside of the template.

I assume also, that you must use the keyboard for the addition and
subtraction symbols as I have not seen them in Equation Editor.

That's correct. Same with less than and greater than symbols, and the equal
symbol. EE also has some built-in keyboard shortcuts if you're so inclined.
You can find these listed in the Help file.

--
Bob Mathews bobm at dessci.com
Director of Training
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
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