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TraditionalForm vs OutputForm display of negative signs

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg121473] TraditionalForm vs OutputForm display of negative signs
• From: D Yong <darrylyong at gmail.com>
• Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:48:53 -0400 (EDT)
• Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to get TraditionalForm to
change the way it displays the negative sign in certain situations?

Here is a transcript of what I mean:

=========Using TraditionalForm as default output=========

In[1]:= -x^2 y - x y^2
Out[1]= x^2 (-y)-x y^2

In[2]:= -x^2 y + x y^2
Out[2]= x y^2-x^2 y

In[3]:= -x^2 y
Out[3]= -x^2 y

In[4]:= -2 x^2 y - x y^2
Out[4]= -2 x^2 y-x y^2

=========Using StandardForm as default output=========

In[1]:= -x^2 y - x y^2
Out[1]= -x^2 y - x y^2

In[2]:= -x^2 y + x y^2
Out[2]= -x^2 y + x y^2

In[3]:= -x^2 y
Out[3]= -x^2 y

In[4]:= -2 x^2 y - x y^2
Out[4]= -2 x^2 y - x y^2



I prefer to use TraditionalForm as it looks better, but I don't like
the way it handles the negative sign in this particular situation.
(Compare Output #1 above.)

If I use StandardForm as the default output and try to convert Out[1]
to TraditionalForm, it immediately converts to x^2(-y)-xy^2.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Darryl