jrk@s1.sys.uea.ac.uk (Richard Kennaway CMP RA) (02/07/89)
Are there any Macintosh programs which will draw mathematical diagrams?
These are the sort of diagrams I mean (or as close as I can get with
typewriter graphics):
A ---> B ---> C
| | |
| | | ------>
v v v A B -----> C
D ---> E ---> F ------> \ |
\ |
\ v
---> D
p
A,B
[FA,B] --------> [A,GB]
D C
^ ^
| |
--.Fa | | --.a
| |
| |
[FA',B] --------> [A',GB]
D p C
A',B
I have seen MacEqn and Expressionist, which seem ideal for drawing
complicated integrals and matrices, but they dont do the sort
of mathematics that I do. At present, I use MacDraw, which leaves a lot
to be desired - arrowheads the size of icecream cones, no mixing of
styles and fonts in text items. Ideally, I would like a program that will
let me drag a vertex of one of these diagrams, and drag along all the arrows
connected to it.
--
Richard Kennaway SYS, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K.
uucp: ...mcvax!ukc!uea-sys!jrk Janet: kennaway@uk.ac.uea.sysquinnt@rpics (Tom Quinn) (02/10/89)
In article <427@s1.sys.uea.ac.uk> jrk@s1.UUCP (Richard Kennaway) writes: > >Are there any Macintosh programs which will draw mathematical diagrams? >These are the sort of diagrams I mean (or as close as I can get with >typewriter graphics): > > A ---> B ---> C > | | | > | | | ------> > v v v A B -----> C > D ---> E ---> F ------> \ | > \ | > \ v > ---> D >[more graphs and other stuff deleted] I recently saw a demonstration of Wingz, the much-delayed "presentation spreadsheet" package from Informix. Besides having many built-in graphing functions (some very powerful, but none seem to be what you're asking for), Wingz has a programming language built in to it that may be able to generate the type of diagrams you need. The language gives you complete programmability over (among other things) the user interface (you can draw, add/remove/modify menus, and even call external routines). I realize that a spreadsheet may not be what comes to mind at first for the functionality you're requesting, but about ten minutes into the demo it was easy to forget you were watching a spreadsheet demo - the capabilities in Wingz went way beyond my conception of what a spreadsheet program would be expected to do. Disclaimer: I have no connection with Informix other than as an attendee at one of their demonstrations, and as a future owner of Wingz (I won a copy at the demo :-). >Richard Kennaway SYS, University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K. >uucp: ...mcvax!ukc!uea-sys!jrk Janet: kennaway@uk.ac.uea.sys -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas F. Quinn quinnt@turing.cs.rpi.edu Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Computer Science Department
gae@sphere.mast.ohio-state.edu (Gerald Edgar) (02/10/89)
The AmS-TeX macros package for TeX contains a commutative diagram
capability. It will do everything you show except diagonal arrows.
It apparently works with Textures for Mac. I have also used it with
MacTeX.
--
Gerald A. Edgar
Department of Mathematics TS1871@OHSTVMA.bitnet
The Ohio State University gae@sphere.mast.ohio-state.edu
Columbus, OH 43210 ...!{att,pyramid}!osu-cis!sphere.mast.ohio-state.edu!gaelippin@jell-o.berkeley.edu (The Apathist) (02/11/89)
Inspiration, from Ceres Software, while not designed for the purpose, is adequate for drawing commutative diagrams. It's essentially a program for drawing arrows between chunks of text, which is what you need. It also allows labels on the arrows, which are essential for these diagrams. The biggest drawback is that it doesn't do super- or subscripts, although it may allow you to import pictures of them -- I haven't tried. Another problem is that it wants to put the labels on vertical arrows on top of the arrow, but you can fernatz aroud with the justification to avoid that. Horizontal and diagonal arrows are no problem. These problems prevent me from wholeheartedly recommending the program, but if you draw lots of diagrams, it's worth checking out. --Tom Lippincott lippin@math.berkeley.edu "It's a multi-purpose shape: a box." --David Byrne
bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) (02/11/89)
In article <20222@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> lippin@math.berkeley.edu writes: > >Inspiration, from Ceres Software, while not designed for the purpose, >is adequate for drawing commutative diagrams. It's essentially a >program for drawing arrows between chunks of text, which is what you >need. It also allows labels on the arrows, which are essential for >these diagrams. > >The biggest drawback is that it doesn't do super- or subscripts, >although it may allow you to import pictures of them -- I haven't >tried. Another problem is that it wants to put the labels on vertical >arrows on top of the arrow, but you can fernatz aroud with the >justification to avoid that. Horizontal and diagonal arrows are no >problem. > (stuff deleted) One of the programmers of Inspiration was at last night's BMUG meeting. Someone asked if it used TextEdit; he said no. Then he was asked if super- and subscripts were supported, since using TextEdit would have prevented this. He said no, but the outcry for this feature was so loud, he said they just might be able to sneak this feature in before the scheduled release of 2.0 (late March). Other info: The cost of v. 1.0 is $175 retail; 2.0 will go up by $75. The upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0 is free. 2.0 will also have full color support, the ANSI standard templates as choosable objects, and a bunch of other nifty enhancements. John Heckendorn /\ BMUG ARPA: bmug@garnet.berkeley.EDU A__A 1442A Walnut St., #62 BITNET: bmug@ucbgarnet |()| Berkeley, CA 94709 | | (415) 549-2684 | |