butterwo@cassatt.cs.unc.edu (Jeff Butterworth) (09/29/89)
As a physics major and computer programmer, I've spent much of my life scratching away with pencil and paper, creating equations that would choke a horse. Some of these babies take three lines of notebook paper and contain every special squiggle my math professor could dig out of his medieval calculus torture books. I know that premature arthritis has always been a healthy part of every scientist's training, but I've suffered long enough. What I want to know is, is there any editor out there that will allow me to manipulate equations and other mathematical symbols? It doesn't have to do any calculations at all. (That's my job.) I just want to be able to do my homework on the computer, like all the English and Psych majors. Surely there's something that will let me do the basic word processing tasks like cutting and pasting, but will also let me type in a messy fraction and then put a square root sign around it. The only kind of program that I've seen that comes close is a paint program. I wouldn't mind creating all of the special symbols in mac-draw, but actually putting them together in each new situation would be a tedious nightmare. And I'm not even going to go near complicated text formating packages like eqn for UNIX. Those require more time to use than just grabbing a no.2 pencil and a sheet of notebook paper, and the encoded info is far from WYSIWYG. I would prefer something for the IBM PC, but I would even hop on a Mac or X-Windows if I could type in equations. Can anyone give me some pointers? Thanks in advance. P.S. Please respond through e-mail if possible. If there is sufficient response, then I will post a summary to the net. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Between two evils, I always choose the one I haven't tried." - Mae West Jeff Butterworth Home: 509 N. Columbia St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (919) 933-1394 School: 235 Sitterson, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (919) 962-1719 butterwo@cs.unc.edu Work: Data General (Graphics Group), Research Triangle Park, NC butterwo@dg-rtp.dg.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wilkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Mark Wilkins) (10/01/89)
Yeah, there is something roughly like what you want in a couple of forms
on the Macintosh.
Two programs I know of, MathType and Expressionist, allow you to create
mathematical expressions laid out properly on the page and export them to
word processing programs.
I am not too sure of MathType's capabilities, but Expressionist allows
you to do such things as define your own symbols and even will produce
text-only output in eqn format, Microsoft Word's equation format, or TeX
format.
When you open the Expressionist desk accessory you are faced with a
blank work area and a palette of different mathematical constructs off to
one side. You click on, say, an integral symbol, and an integral sign
appears, allowing you to fill in boxes with limits of integration and the
integrand.
MathType allows certain things to be done more easily, such as closed path
integrals, but Expressionist produces more pleasing output, especially on
laser printers, and has an easier-to-use interface for more basic stuff. I
do not know who publishes MathType, but Expressionist is published by Allan
Bonadio Associates. Both are advertised fairly regularly in MacWorld. If
access to a Mac is not a problem, either of these packages will make you
wonder how you ever got along before.
-- Mark Wilkins
(wilkins@jarthur.claremont.edu)usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (10/03/89)
I've got one even better than that for you. Try MathCad. It does what you want, and, it will solve those equations for you also! I've used it for about 2 years now. In the rare case that original ideas Kenneth J. Hendrickson N8DGN are found here, I am responsible. Owen W328, E. Lansing, MI 48825 Internet: hendrick@frith.egr.msu.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!frith!hendrick
lwh@harpsichord.cis.ohio-state.edu (Loyde W Hales) (10/04/89)
I've another suggestion similiar to MathCad. Try Borland's ``Eureka, The
Solver.'' It isn't as nice as MathCad for presentation, but it does have a
full presentation manager. More importantly, it is quite inexpensive for
what you get. It will do IBM clones, Macs, and Atari.
-=-
Department of Computer and Information Science
Loyde W. Hales, II The Ohio State University
lwh@cis.ohio-state.edu 2036 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43201roland@cochise (10/10/89)
butterwo@cassatt.cs.unc.edu (Jeff Butterworth) writes: > What I want to know is, is there any editor out there that will allow >me to manipulate equations and other mathematical symbols? It doesn't have >to do any calculations at all. (That's my job.) I just want to be able to >do my homework on the computer, like all the English and Psych majors. >Surely there's something that will let me do the basic word processing tasks >like cutting and pasting, but will also let me type in a messy fraction and >then put a square root sign around it. > I would prefer something for the IBM PC, but I would even hop on a >Mac or X-Windows if I could type in equations. > Can anyone give me some pointers? Thanks in advance. Once upon a time (1985 :-) when I was still studying mathematled "SIGNUM!" ( really SIGNUM!2 in the meantime ) and runs (exclusively) on any Atari ST. ( I know that this machine has a 'games only' image in the US and lacks professional support - in Germany the situation is very different - , but when the software was designed, we expacted it would be more expensive than the hardware anyway, so Franz selected the machine most suitable for this kind of fast graphic character operations, expecting all customers to buy the same - and really, quite a number of ST have been sold just to run Signum! on it ). Disclaimer: I'm a friend of the autor. And I like Signum! I know that You believe You understand what You think I said, but I'm not sure You realize that what You heard is not what I meant. Roland Rambau rra@cochise.pcs.com, {unido|pyramid}!pcsbst!rra, 2:507/414.2.fidonet Sorry, if my signature is included twice - this is intentional, since we have a line-eater bug in this weeks mail software ( we are regularyly testing our software til it breaks :-)