glassner@unc.UUCP (01/24/88)
I have also found that MacEQN is a loser for serious work which
involves many equations. I don't transcribe my documents; I
write them at the keyboard. After typing an equation I may
decide a paragraph or page later that some variables should
have subscripts, or that a limit should be changed. MacEQN
offers virtually no editing capability (you can alter a particular
character, but you cannot enlarge a 2-digit number to 3 digits!).
The big problem is that even a moderately complex equation can
take 5-10 minutes to set properly (think of lots of superscripts,
subscripts, and font changes, coupled with the knowledge you'd
better be careful, since you can't back up and edit undestructively).
By the time you've re-set the same equation two or three times
for some little (but important) changes, the MacEQN/word processor
approach gets pretty unattractive.
For this reason, I rejoiced when I saw Word's in-line equations.
I've used TeX for several years and I've written some equation-
ridden papers in TeX, and that was fine. But I like my Mac,
and I want to work with my interactive, mostly WYSIWYG word processor
as I write. Word 3+ lets me do that, albeit I have to switch into
a funny mode to actually write the formula.
But I am not very happy with the Word formula commands; after an
early threshold the equation lines get VERY complex, long, and
difficult to parse (I mean by me!) and edit, plus they're not
too sophisticated (I must often resort to a bunch of tricks to
get what I want). Self-imposed formatting helps legibility of
the commands, but not a whole lot. I'm also not crazy about the output;
little anomalies like extra space here and there, and not-quite-right
bracket sizes are somewhat annoying. And even with my tricks I can't
do some things gracefully (such as lining up = signs vertically; with
the left-hand side right-justified to the = sign, and the right-hand
side left-justified, like 3x + 2y = 5
8xz = 99.3
).
I'd be happy to go to an interactive DA to cut and paste for display
equations (the ones that go on their own lines) and stick with
Word's formula mode for in-line equations, which are usually
comparitively simple. But MacEQN was the only equation DA I knew
of, so I've never really operated in that mode.
The recent notes about MathType and Expressionist sound very
encouraging. Has anyone used both? How about a price/performance
report? Has anyone printed the TeX produced by MathType? How well
does it match the formula that you see on the screen? Or as it's printed
by the printer? Can I save the output in PICT to plug into Word or
PageMaker? How about Expressionist - some folks have said they've
used it, but how does it perform? Do tell all!
(Ever thirsting for knowledge,
but right now I think I'll have some apple juice.)
-Andrew
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Andrew Glassner UUCP:decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner ARPA:glassner@cs.unc.edu