Mathematica and systems of equations

[cenit]

I'd like to write (so not calculate, just "publish") some notes using mathematica. My very big problem in fact is the text-mode...

How could I write a system of equations in mathematica, so that it appears "beauty", divided into multiple lines?
I don't want something like this:
f = {{3x+2y},{2x+3z},{4x+2z},{t}=={5,4,1,1}}
but something nicer!

I tried the "leftmodified" symbol to get a big left curly bracket, but it doesn't scale with an inside table... I saw it in some .nb files, but nowhere how to produce it...

To make it easier to understand, I'd like to write my system in this way (very difficult to show here in the forum):

. . . --
. . . | 3x+2y = 5 bla blah..
. . . |
. . . | 2y + 3z = 4 ...
f= <
. . . | 4x+2z = 1 ...
. . . |
. . . | t =1
. . . --

I'm new to mathematica, so I'm sorry if I'm asking such a strange question...
thanks...edit: sorry for the dots in the system of equations, but spaces were ignored if removed... I hope my problem is still clear...edit2: sorry, I just found for myself (exactly after having posted my question...) that the command is ESC pw ESC...
Now I only have to find a way to left align system's cells but center the system itself...

 

[SredniVashtar]

I believe this
http://www.mathematica-journal.com/issue/v8i1/tricks/contents/html/Links/index_lnk_2.html
has the answer to your question.

 

[cenit]

I believe this
http://www.mathematica-journal.com/issue/v8i1/tricks/contents/html/Links/index_lnk_2.html
has the answer to your question.

I found that in mathematica 8, using ESC pw ESC, it writes a curly bracket that automatically braces all the equations of the system, while using the standard { character does not the trick (and maybe requires your suggestion).

Anyway, thanks a lot! I know something about coding in mathematica, but absolutely nothing about typesetting and presenting results using this software. Do you know any good book about this topic, from the beginning to the advanced level? Thanks again

 

[SredniVashtar]

You might want to give a try to a few of these tutorials.
http://www.wolfram.com/learningcenter/tutorialcollection/
Especially those related to notebooks and documents.

Despite the massive amount of material, a lot of people feels that Mathematica documentation is somewhat incomplete. Particularly regarding typesetting.

 

[jhae2.718]

Personally, if you're just using Mathematica to typeset, I would consider using LaTeX instead.

 

[cenit]

Personally, if you're just using Mathematica to typeset, I would consider using LaTeX instead.

In fact I use LaTeX everyday. I just wanted to learn a little about mathematica typesetting, but it doesn't seem so effective, at least at the beginning.
I saw one guy doing wonderful things (particularly interesting is the mixing of typesetting and interactive material), and I wanted to try...

 

[jhae2.718]

In that case, I'll stand back and let the Mathematica wizards here figure something out. (I'm a MATLAB guy.)

 

[Bill Simpson]

If there is a traditional way of displaying/publishing what you want then TraditionalForm can sometimes help. For Example:

TraditionalForm[HoldForm[f = {{3x+2y==5}, {2x+3z==4}, {4x+2z == 1}, {t == 1}}]]

If there is no clear traditional way of displaying what you want then this will likely not help.

There was one fairly thin book published about twenty years ago that did have a brief introduction to publishing using Mathematica. Unfortunately I cannot recall the title, but I did hold it in my hands once and since you know that it is out there you might try a variety of searches to see if you could stumble onto it.

For more serious control of the layout of a page within Mathematica people start creating modified stylesheets and this may lead you in helpful directions

http://www.google.com/search?q=mathematica+stylesheets

Caution is always recommended before you start changing system stylesheets.