Monday 18 January 2010

Mastering Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0

It Starts with "Insert Object"

In Word 2003 (and also in Word 2010) Alt-I-O will insert an "Object".

Click this and you get a List Box from which you should select Microsoft Equation 3.0 (hit M a few times and you'll get there).

The first tricky thing you need to get used to is underbar/overbar distinction versus fraction/radical template. If you want to write a partial derivative you need to use the fraction/radical template (LHS), underbar/overbar is RHS.

Greek characters and Miscellaneous Symbols

The symbols available from top row (RHS) give you Greek characters (UPPERCASE), Greek characters (LOWERCASE) and Miscellaneous symbols.

The "Modified Delta" Symbol

The "modified delta" symbol for partial derivatives is not a Greek symbol per se but is derived from the Greek lowercase delta with the curly head, and was introduced by Adrien-Marie Legendre (a top flight Parisian mathematician) and popularised by Prussian mathematician Jacobi (famous for elliptic functions, functions on the complex plane, discovered as the inverse of elliptic integrals).

So MS Eqtn Editor is quite correct in classifying this symbol under "Miscellaneous".

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