Documentation/OOoAuthors User Manual/Getting Started/Entering a formula

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 2.x

Chapter 11: Getting Started with Math

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• Entering a formula
• Customizations
• Formula layout
• Common problem areas

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Entering a formula

There are three ways to enter a formula:

• • Select a symbol from the Selection window.
  • Right-click on the equation editor and select the symbol from the context menu.
  • Type markup in the equation editor.

The context menu and the Selection window insert the markup corresponding to a symbol. Incidentally, this provides a convenient way to learn the OOoMath markup.

Note

Click on the document body to exit the formula editor. Double-click on a formula to enter the formula editor again.

The Selection window

The simplest method for entering a formula is the Selection window, shown in Figure 2.

inline:Frame6.png

The Selection window is divided into two main portions.

• • The top shows the symbol categories. Click on these to change the list of symbols.
  • The bottom shows the symbols available in the current category.

TIP

You can hide (or unhide) the Selection window with View > Selection.

Example 1:

For this example we will enter a simple formula: inline:Object1.png On the Selection window:

1. 1. Select the top-left button of the categories (top) section (Figure 3).
   2. Click on the multiplication symbol (shown in Figure 3).

inline:Frame2.png

When you select the multiplication symbol on the Selection window, two things happen:

• • The equation editor shows the markup: inline:Object59.png
  • The body of the document shows a gray box with the figure: inline:Object58.png

inline:Frame3.png

The “ <?> " symbols (Figure 4) are placeholders that you can replace by other text. The equation will update automatically, and the result should resemble Figure 5.

inline:Frame4.png

TIP

To keep the equation from updating automatically, select View > AutoUpdate display. To update a formula manually, press F9 or select View > Update.

Right-click menu

Another way to access mathematical symbols is to right-click on the equation editor. This produces a menu as shown in Figure 6.

inline:Frame8.png

Note

The entries in this menu correspond exactly to those in the Selection window.

Markup

You can type the markup directly in the equation editor. For example, you can type “5 times 4" to obtain inline:Object4.png . If you know the markup, this can be the fastest way to enter a formula.

TIP

As a mnemonic, the formula markup resembles the way the formula reads in English.

Below is a short list of common equations and their corresponding markup.

	Display	Command	Display	Command
	inline:Object17.png	a = b	inline:Object27.png	sqrt {a}
	inline:Object18.png	a^2	inline:Object19.png	a_n
	inline:Object23.png	int f(x) dx	inline:Object20.png	sum a_n
	inline:Object25.png	a <= b	inline:Object26.png	infinity
	inline:Object51.png	a times b	inline:Object53.png	x cdot y

Greek characters

Greek characters ( inline:Object5.png , etc) are common in mathematical formulas. These characters are not available in the selection box or the right-click menu. Fortunately, the markup for Greek characters is simple: Type a % sign followed the name of the character, in English.

• • To type a lowercase character, write the name of the character in lowercase.
  • To type an uppercase character, write the name of the character in uppercase.

See the table below for some examples:

	Lowercase	Uppercase
	%alpha inline:Object6.png	%ALPHA inline:Object10.png
	%beta inline:Object7.png	%BETA inline:Object11.png
	%gamma inline:Object8.png	%GAMMA inline:Object12.png
	%psi inline:Object9.png	%PSI inline:Object13.png
	%phi inline:Object3.png	%PHI inline:Object31.png
	%theta inline:Object32.png	%THETA inline:Object33.png

Note

A complete table of Greek characters is included in page 23.

Another way to enter Greek characters is by using the catalog window. Go to Tools > Catalog. The catalog window is shown in Figure 7. Under “Symbol Set" select “Greek" and double-click on a Greek letter from the list.

inline:Frame14.png

Example 2:

For this example we will suppose that:

• • We want to enter the above formula (the value of pi rounded to 5 decimal places).
  • We know the name of the Greek character (“pi").
  • But we do not know the markup associated with the inline:Object14.png symbol.

Step 1: Type “%" followed by the text “pi". This displays the Greek character inline:Object15.png .

Step 2: Open the Selection window (View > Selection).

Step 3: The inline:Object29.png symbol is a relation, so we click on the relations button inline:Graphic8.png . If you hover the mouse over this button you see the tooltip “Relations" (Figure 8).

inline:Frame9.png

Step 4: Delete the <?> text and add “3.14159" at the end of the equation. Hence we end up with the markup “ %pi simeq 3.14159 ". The result is shown in Figure 9.

inline:Frame10.png