Writting a technical paper in word

[USMC8541]

Main Question or Discussion Point

I am having problems writing a technical paper in microsoft word with calculus symbols and graphics. Can anyone tell me how to do this.

Todd

 

[dduardo]

Use openoffice instead. It's free and open source. It has built in mathematical layout tools to do things like latex. Here is a screenshot

http://umsis.miami.edu/~dduardo/Screenshot-1.png

Or if your stubborn and want to use Word then use latex.

 

[USMC8541]

where do i get open office and what is latex

Thanks
todd

 

[dduardo]

O, sorry, should have put the links.

http://www.openoffice.org/

http://www.latex-project.org/

Latex is just a typesetting system that allows you to do fansy mathematical stuff.

 

[Pauly Man]

I also highly recommend latex over word.

 

[enigma]

It is a bit ponderous to use, but Word does have an equation editor built in.

Insert->Object->Microsoft Equation 3.0

 

[manixc]

Originally posted by dduardo
Use openoffice instead. It's free and open source. It has built in mathematical layout tools to do things like latex. Here is a screenshot

http://umsis.miami.edu/~dduardo/Screenshot-1.png

Or if your stubborn and want to use Word then use latex.

hi, how do you do that with OOo 1.1?? I just need to write some simple formulas nothing fancy but I don't even know how to create fractions. plz help

 

[manixc]

I can't seem to find the selection window anywhere.
is there a diff between windows and linux version?

 

[dduardo]

Are you using the writer? If you are, then you want to go to insert->object->formula

If you have problems, why don't you try to use the help index.

 

[NateTG]

Originally posted by manixc
hi, how do you do that with OOo 1.1?? I just need to write some simple formulas nothing fancy but I don't even know how to create fractions. plz help

You could cheat:
Post your equations here using tex, and then import them into word as graphics.

E.g.

$$f(a,b)=\frac{b*i}{a-i}+\sqrt{\alpha_i^{\pi}}$$

of course, this is all a plot to get you to join the tex users.

 

[gnome]

Dduardo:

I've been meaning to try out the OO formula editor, so since you were recommending it I decided to give it a shot.

Seems to me the guys who wrote that thing should have done a better job with the documentation. The "help" is terrible. It took me a half-hour to figure out how to write this pathetic little formula:
%DELTA V = - k sub e Q int from %infinite to r (dr over r)
If you paste that into OpenOffice you'll see it's supposed to look like this:
$$\Delta V = -k_e Q \int_\infty^r {dr \over r}$$
except my OpenOffice version looks terrible because the spacing is all nasty, the relative sizes of the various parts don't really match very well, I had to put in those parentheses, and it took four times as long to do in OpenOffice, mainly because there is all kinds of really good help online for Tex, and the help for OpenOffice (you should pardon my expression) SUCKS.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for open source. And of course Tex is open source, too. But who has the time & patience to figure out how to make that OO stuff look presentable? Do you know how to fix that little bit of OO code I wrote to make it come out looking reasonably good? If so, how long did it take you to learn that? Am I missing something?

 

[dduardo]

hmm, I don't know. Works fine for me:

http://umsis.miami.edu/~dduardo/formula.png

%DELTA V~=~- k sub e Q {int from {%infinite} to {r} {dr over r}}

Trying putting {} around things. Also you can mess with the spacing under format.

 

[gnome]

I don't understand what you're showing me. What changes did you make to the code I posted? How did you save that formula.png file? It opens in a browser window & I can't see the underlying code.

edit:
The image looks fine when I open your .png file. But if I type your code into the OpenOffice formula window it comes out looking pretty much like mine, except for the appearance of the fraction. That's the only place the brackets seem to have made a difference.
There's still way too much space before and after the Q.
What are the ~ for?
and what program creates the .png file?

Oh, and I don't see how to change the spacing. The format menu doesn't seem to be able to do anything inside the OO math window.

 

[dduardo]

Are you sure you looking at the right menu? It should be to the right of the VIEW menu, which is to the right of the EDIT menu, which is to the right of the FILE menu. Also make sure you have very large percentages in the spacing options window.

And your right gnome, Latex is better than OO. That has to do a lot with age.

The main problem i've had with Latex is actually getting it on my computer. The project's website is such a mess, and I get lost on their ftp trying to figure out which packages I need. I tend to be good at figuring out this type of stuff, but this one has me running circles.

 

[chroot]

Save yourself the trouble... just use

http://www.equationsheet.com/entertex.php

to convert LaTeX to png, then save the png files to your disk and include them in your document.

- Warren

 

[gnome]

Great link, chroot. Thanks!

dduardo:
Duh, I'm on the right menu. Gimme a little credit. I tried playing around with the spacing in OO, but all I can do there is go from bad to worse. For example, something as simple as
$$k_eQ$$
comes out looking like
$$k_e~~ Q$$

& I can't find any way to get the Q closer without it ending up in the subscript.

btw, my OO is 1.0.2. Are you using a newer one? Do you think that could be the problem?

 

[chroot]

BTW, if you have access to a Unix machine, you can make higher-resolution versions of LaTeX graphics that will look better printed.

If you're on Windows, you can use MikTex.

- Warren

 

[enigma]

Here is a sort of related question:

I wrote a quick Matlab script for a homework assingment in which I included several plots. I needed to run the code for several different data sets and didn't really want to re-type the title's "Name Date Serial Number" etc. over and over again. The matlab command: title('enter text here') only includes a single line, but the documentation mentions that it uses LaTex to convert superscripts and subscripts. Does anyone know if it's possible to use other Latex commands to get it to print a title on several lines?

 

[gnome]

What were you referring to here:

if you have access to a Unix machine, you can make higher-resolution versions of LaTeX graphics that will look better printed

??

 

[chroot]

Originally posted by gnome
What were you referring to here:

??

The graphics generated by this site's LaTeX feature, for example, are low-resolution and would not look good printed on a page. If you actually run LaTeX on your own machine, you can specify any resolution you'd like for your images, and thus make them appear nice and smooth on the page.

I am personally in favor of typesetting a document entirely in TeX if there are any more complicated mathematical forms than "1/2."

- Warren