MathGroup Archive 2007

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Search the Archive

Style Sheets - Palette - SubScript Entry

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg83703] Style Sheets - Palette - SubScript Entry
  • From: Joe Sneed <jsneed at mines.edu>
  • Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:45:14 -0500 (EST)
  • Organization: Colorado School of Mines

I run V6.01 under windows XP

I find significant and, for me, problematic differences in the ways V5.1 
and 6.01 appear to handle palettes and style sheets as well as subscript 
(etc.) entry. Yesterday, I posted two questions about these issues. But, 
I am now clearer about what the problem is.

Using any installed style sheet, system or user defined:

1) forms entered from the the "BasicMathInput" palette always appear in 
the Courier New font, regardless of the font specified by the style 
sheet. Font / face changes can be made from the format menu. The same 
behavior is observed with the "AlgebraicManipulation" Palette, and a 
legacy user defined palette, but not with the "SpecialCharacters" palette.

2) subscripts (etc.) entered from the keyboard using the control-key 
appear as Times New Roman Italic, though the format menu format display 
reads 'Times New Roman Plain'. The font can be changed from the format 
menu and the face to bold and underline.. But, I have found no way to 
change from italic from the format menu. Entered from the bottom two 
rows of the "BasicMathInput" palette, they behave as in 1).

Further investigation of 2) reveals that the the underlying cell 
expressions for superscripts entered with the control key and the 
"BasicMathInput" palette are different. For example:

control-6 yields

Cell[BoxData[
FormBox[
SuperscriptBox["x", "e"],
TraditionalForm]], "Text",
CellChangeTimes->{{
3.405177763046875*^9,
3.40517776759375*^9}, 3.405178772*^9}
]

the "BasicMathInput" palette yields

Cell[BoxData[
SuperscriptBox["x", "e"]], "Text",
CellChangeTimes->{{3.405178871*^9,
3.405178875515625*^9}}]

I discover that Cell -> Convert To -> Standard Form on the first cell 
gives me exactly what's in the second cell.

All this leaves me a bit confused. What is described in 1) is not the 
behavior I observed with V5.01 where palette entries appeared to respect 
the style of the cell into which they were entered. 2) is totally 
bizarre. I suppose the "work around" is using the "BasicMathInput" 
palette for subscripts (etc.).

I deeply suspect that what I describe here is not the way V6.01 is 
intended to work. I wonder if some global option might be set incorrectly.

Any help much appreciated...

Joe

-- 
Joe Sneed
Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies
Colorado School of Mines
Golden CO USA
mailto:jsneed at mines.edu
http://www.mines.edu/fs_home/jsneed/





  • Prev by Date: Re: case differentiation problem with "Assumptions"
  • Next by Date: Re: FindInstance puzzler
  • Previous by thread: Mathematica 6 and system of matrix and scalar ODEs in NDSolve: NDSolve::nlnum
  • Next by thread: Derivative of function with indexed variables