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)amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) (10/01/89)
There is a serious mark-up capability (about 95% of what TEX can offer) with about five times the ease of use, if you get a copy of Lotus Manuscript (Release 2.0). Lotus Manuscript is a full-featured word processor, (it competes with Word and WordPerfect) for the IBM PC. It has the ability to automatically format mathematical expressions with correct size parenthesis, integral signs, etc. (just like TEX). It is integrated in a very easy to use word processor which has printer drivers for nearly every printer on the planet, especially the Desk-Jet (unlike TEX, which rips you off for 200 bucks a pop.). 1. You may ultimately want TEX compatibility. Manuscript does not have this. (It may in the future, but who knows). 2. You might want wysiwyg. Manuscript (like TEX) is not. 3. If you also do a lot of chemistry, T3 (T-cubed) may be more to your taste. An example of the Laplace tranform in Manuscript: integral sub 0 super infinity e super [-st] f(t) dt = F(s) this will be a beautifully sculpted Postscript image if you have a Postscript printer, and almost as stunning on HP lasers, (or the economically important DeskJet). Later, Andrew Mullhaupt Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of my employer.
MARWK@levels.sait.edu.au (10/03/89)
I use the TRIAD Inc. technical word processor T3 (read T-cubed). It is designed by mathematicians from the core out. They have printer drivers for most printers, have the best designed interface yet for PC lookalikes, with a philosophy behind the definition and use of the function keys. You can make up and store and combination of key strokes you like - expressions or part-expressions can be recalled very simply. There is simply nothing like it on the market. Note: I have nothing to do with the company. I use the product for typing up mathematical material, in particular, my mathematical Ph.D. thesis. Editing equations is a breeze. More info. if you want it. Ray Kennington
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 43201jhenry@randvax.UUCP (Jim Henry) (10/04/89)
We are looking for an equation editor also. So far we think MathType 2.0 has the best looking output, better than Expressionist 2.0, for a comparable amount of effort. Specifically, Expressionist seems to leave most of the work of following the rules of mathematical typography to the author. Very few people have the faintest idea of what these rules are. Equations that don't follow the rules do look bad to most people who read significant quantities of math. Knowing what to do about it isn't always so obvious. MathType 2.0 does seem to understand most of the things you would do in an equation and applies the appropriate rules. MathType uses Apple's "Position Independent PostScript" so that the equations behave like PICTs on the Mac but use PostScript directly when printed on a PostScript printer (probably a near necessity to get good looking equations with either package). We have seen problems with Expressionist equations used in Word because of "Fractional Widths". When fractional widths is turned on, Expressionist equations are not printed correctly. I would be interested in hearing more specifically why you feel Expressionist yields better results. In particular, are any of the differences due to the versions of the products being evaluated?
c60a-1bd@e260-1g.berkeley.edu (Jeff Davis) (10/05/89)
In article <414@s5.Morgan.COM> amull@Morgan.COM (Andrew P. Mullhaupt) writes: ...stuff deleted... > >Lotus Manuscript is a full-featured word processor, (it competes >with Word and WordPerfect) for the IBM PC. It has the ability to >automatically format mathematical expressions with correct size >parenthesis, integral signs, etc. (just like TEX). It is integrated >in a very easy to use word processor which has printer drivers for >nearly every printer on the planet, especially the Desk-Jet (unlike >TEX, which rips you off for 200 bucks a pop.). > ...stuff deleted... >Later, >Andrew Mullhaupt > >Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those >of my employer. Just so no one gets any misconceptions. There are quite a few free drivers available at SCIENCE.UTAH.EDU as well as from various other places. Some people may be charging $200 dollars for TeX printer drivers but if the price seems too high get a PD version somewhere else. It is in fact possible to put together a complete free version of TeX (including latex, bibtex, fonts, previewer, etc.) for a PC with minimal effort (see for example pd:<msdos.tex> at wsmr-simtel20.army.mil). I have microtex from arbortext but use a PD previewer and dvi2ps converter. -- Jeff Davis, JCDavis@LBL.GOV
roland@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 :-)
jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (10/13/89)
My mother, who teaches maths and computers in secondary schools and
knows much more about PC software packages than I do, very much likes
PC-WRITE with the ALGEOM (algebra/geometry/maths) fonts. Apparently,
the base level of this is available PD as shareware; then you can sends
your money for a manual and extra options (e.g., more fonts). I have
seen it work on a good number of different printers that she has had
available at school ... or bought at yard sales ... [;-)/2]
Joe Yao jsdy@hadron.COM
hadron!jsdy@{uunet.UU.NET,decuac.DEC.COM}
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dtix,ecogong,empire,gong,grebyn,inco, \
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