Equation Editor in Microsoft Word 6

[Dave442]

Hi all,

Sorry if this seems trivial but I cant for the life of me figure this out!

I wish to write an equation in Word 2007 using the equation editor. As the equation features integral signs in both the numerator and the denominator, however, the size of the integral signs is reduced quite drastically. I would like to increase the size of the integral signs to match that of the integrands.

Any ideas would be appreciated!
Dave

 

[IRstuff]

You can't. The best you could do is to crank up the font size and drop the size of the limits

TTFN
faq731-376

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[Dave442]

Oh OK, that seems kinda dumb. Would you happen to know if this issue has been addressed in Word 2010?

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply!
Dave

 

[fel3]

I just checked Equation Editor in Word 2010 and it behaves just as you described for Word 2007. I even made a "full-sized" integral and copied into one of the placeholders in a stand-up fraction and it reformatted the full-sized integral symbol to a tiny integral symbol. I don't see a way to fix this.

Although I don't typically use the integral symbol when I use Equation Editor, and never in a fraction, I completely agree that this is a problem. (That sounded almost like The Most Interesting Man in the World pitching Dos Equis, but I assure you it wasn't ) Word needs a "format to full size" option in Equation Editor. Besides IRstuff's recommendation, the best I can do is suggest you forward a complaint/suggestion to Microsoft. I understand they listen once in a while.

I started using Equation Editor back in the 1990s and I vaguely recall that the early versions handled this differently. I also vaguely recall that the original Equation Editor was a non-Microsoft add-in.

One final thought: the free Mathcad Prime 2.0 Express (and by implication, the expensive Mathcad Prime 2.0) does NOT shrink integrals that are part of a fraction. If either the free of expensive version of Mathcad will suit your purposes, you may want to try it. Unfortunately, while you can copy an equation from Mathcad to Word, it comes in as single-line text and formatting is not preserved.

==========
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill

 

[DRWeig]

If you do what fel3 recommended with free version of MathCad, you can use the Windows Snipping tool to past your nice-looking equation into Word as a picture. Set the pic's word wrapping to "behind text" and you can place it anywhere and annotate on top of it.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

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[Dave442]

Wow,

Thanks for all the information. I think I'll just live with the small integral signs for now, as I have been preparing a rather large document and all the equations thus far have been prepared using the equation editor (with no problems). I'll look into forwarding something to Microsoft.

Really appreciate the responses,
Thanks for your time!
Dave

 

[btrueblood]

In Word 2007, you can insert an equation via Insert > Equation (uses built-in eq. editor)...or use Insert > Object > Microsoft Equation 3.0

The latter method gives integral symbols that are larger/taller, more like how you would see them in a typical textbook - see attached file.

http://files.engineering.com/getfil...85f-495a-b577-81887d21a617&file=equation.docx

 

[IRstuff]

For comparison, here's MS Eq. 3.0 and Mathcad Prime's versions:

TTFN
faq731-376

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[Dave442]

Thanks everyone,

Looks as though Insert > Object > Microsoft Equation 3.0 will work a lot better for me.
Thanks for all the help and information, really appreciate it.

Kind Regards,
Dave

 

[flash3780]

I think that getting it setup with all of the right packages might be a bit of a pain in Windows, but Inkscape has a plugin which renders LaTeX equations. From there, you could save the equation as an EMF file and insert it into MS Word.

Here's a blog post on creating LaTeX equations in Inkscape:

http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2009/12/22/including-latex-in-inkscape/

If you get it working with all of the appropriate plugins, Inkscape and LaTeX should give you tons of flexibility when it comes to editing equations. Also, converting to an EMF vector format will provide you with crisp, publication worthy vector images (EMF is the only vector format that Word plays nicely with).

I haven't fiddled with it on my Windows machine enough to get it up and running, but it works great on my Linux box (although I can't make EMF files in Linux because it required Windows DLLs). Might be worth a shot. Good luck.

 

[flash3780]

Relating to my post above, I found a guide for setting up textext in Windows:

http://people.orie.cornell.edu/jmd388/design/guides/textext.pdf

 

[FeX32]

I suggest you use TeX (LaTeX)
You can accomplish exactly what you need with the line: \frac{\int a }{\int b}
The limits are added like the following \frac{\int\limits_x^y a }{\int\limits_x^y b}
Which produces the attached equation.

Also, you can change how big or small the numerator an denominator are manually.
TeX is by far the most professional typesetting compiler for math, science and engineering.
Try the part of it that can be used for just mathematics

http://www.chachatelier.fr/latexit/

Cheers,



Fe (IronX32)

 

[FeX32]

Try this command and you will see what I mean:
\int{\left(\frac{\displaystyle\int\limits_x^y a }{\int\limits_x^y b}\right)}


Fe (IronX32)

 

[FeX32]

Version for windows:

http://latexeqedit.sourceforge.net/index.php

and for Linux:

https://code.google.com/p/latexyt/

I just realized that I have no idea what OS you guys are used haha
Personally, OSX and Linux


Fe (IronX32)

 

[FeX32]

*using****


Fe (IronX32)

 

[Dave442]

Thanks a lot for the LaTeX info.

I'll probably take a look at it the next time I have to prepare a large scientific document!

Cheers!
Dave

 

[FeX32]

No problem!


Fe (IronX32)

 

[btrueblood]

My wife did her thesis using LaTex, I did mine on MS Word version 2 or -1 or something like that. Mine was done, submitted and accepted in about half the time...sometimes being limited by the software can be a help rather than a hindrance. Or, sometimes good enough is good enough.

 

[FeX32]

I hear ya btrue. I use both Word and LaTeX. Word for smaller things, LaTeX for things that are highly mathematical and/or have lots of references. LaTeX is also better for changing formats. Changing one line of TeX code can completely change the format of the document after one compile, whereas with Word it may take many hours or even days to reformat something.
Although, it is more difficult at first and may take longer, it can actually become quicker after you have used it for a while. Also, the output is incomparable to word for many cases.
I could talk about this for hours haha

Everyone has their own preference really. I thought that for this thread the mathematical aspect of TeX could really benefit the OP.
For anyone wanting utilize TeX I suggest Kile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kile

Also, there is a nice "in-between" version developed in Europe. It is widely used and highly suggested for those who like Word
It's called LyX

http://www.lyx.org/

Cheers,


Fe (IronX32)

 

[btrueblood]

FeX32,

The LyX editor looks interesting enough for me to download and take home to try out. Been way too long since I used any type of Tex editor, so having a menu-driven and WYSIWYG should help the re-learning curve.