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Re: Typing special symbols in text mode?

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg65479] Re: Typing special symbols in text mode?
• From: Paul Abbott <paul at physics.uwa.edu.au>
• Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 06:59:59 -0400 (EDT)
• Organization: The University of Western Australia
• References: <e0llsk$797$1@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

In article <e0llsk$797$1 at smc.vnet.net>,
 "Rex Eastbourne" <rex.eastbourne at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm writing a problem set and would like to use special mathematical
> notation such as vector arrows, the special R for reals, subscripts and
> superscripts, and so on (both in equations and in English regular text
> comments). This would be easy to do in LaTeX, but can it be done in
> Mathematica? (I know about the "export to TeX" feature, but it would be
> nice not to have to go back and change notation after exporting to
> TeX.)

This is easy to do in Mathematica. See 

  Edit | Expression Input 

and in particular the items Above, Subscript, and Superscript. The items

  Start Inline Cell

and 

  End Inline Cell 

are used for inline equations within text. I always put mathematical 
expressions in inline cells (a la $x$ in LaTeX).

Note that if you write some text into a text cell and then type a 
variable, say x, and then use, say, the Superscript menu item (or its 
keyboard shortcut, indicated in the menu), an inline cell is created 
automatically.

Advantages of Mathematica for typesetting include:

[1] it is WYSIWYG
[2] you can use the Mathematica kernel to evaluate expressions appearing 
in inline cells and in equations -- anywhere, in fact.
[3] it has the extra advantage of being meaningful mathematics.

For example, instead of entering a double-struck R to denote reals, if 
you type Reals into an input cell and convert it to TraditionalForm it 
displays as a double-struck R -- but carries meaning with it (via a 
TagBox as Function[{}, Reals]). This symbol can be used (at least in 
TraditionalForm) within commands such as Reduce and Resolve.

If you paste the following cell expression into Mathematica, you will 
see an example of Mathematica's typesetting:

 Cell[TextData[{"Here is some text containing special mathematical 
notation such as vector arrows, ",  
 Cell[BoxData[FormBox[OverscriptBox["a", "\[RightVector]"], 
    TraditionalForm]]],  ", the special R for reals, ",  
   Cell[BoxData[ FormBox[ TagBox["\[DoubleStruckCapitalR]",          
   Function[{}, Reals]], TraditionalForm]]],  ", subscripts ",  
 Cell[BoxData[ FormBox[ SubscriptBox["a", "i"], TraditionalForm]]],  
  " and superscripts, ",  Cell[BoxData[ FormBox[
    SuperscriptBox["b", "j"], TraditionalForm]]],  "."}], "Text"]

Cheers,
Paul

_______________________________________________________________________
Paul Abbott                                      Phone:  61 8 6488 2734
School of Physics, M013                            Fax: +61 8 6488 1014
The University of Western Australia         (CRICOS Provider No 00126G)    
AUSTRALIA                               http://physics.uwa.edu.au/~paul

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Re: Typing special symbols in text mode?
    • From: "Christopher Arthur" <pannoniara@aol.com>