It is an ironic and frustrating fact that, although
computers were invented by mathematicians, the one thing that is
extraordinarily difficult to type on computers is mathematics.
Most people have come across the fact that typing a half is done
using 1/2 or else one has to press a weird key combination, but
there's no alternative for most fractions. Many sophisticated word
processors and desktop publishing programs do have equation editors
to enter mathematical symbols but most of them are cumbersome, some
are buggy and all are awkward to use especially for more than the odd
formula. Specialist software is also very expensive.
Worse still, these editors are absolutely no use when it comes to
email. You have to resort to the lowest common denominator called
ASCII or Text and attempt to use ordinary symbols. There's yet more
bad news. With the widespread use of proportional fonts, trying to
line text up using spaces can be next to useless.
This is a guide to writing mathematics using only normal symbols.
Much of it is a compromise and may not be satisfactory as it can be
quite hard to read. Handwritten mathematics is still the best.
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Mathematics |
Type As |
Note |
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1/2 |
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x/2 |
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1/2x or 1/(2x) |
Regard everything after / as being on the bottom of the fraction |
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x2, x3 etc |
x^2, x^3 etc |
^ is used in programming to mean power |
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Öx |
sqrt(x) |
x^(1/2) is a bit cumbersome |
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3Öx, 4Öx |
cuberoot(x), fourthroot(x) |
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± |
+/- |
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x = (-b +/- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)) / 2a |
Messy. Complicated formulae should be avoided where possible. Use lots of spaces. Note the importance of brackets to get all over 2a |
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ò x2 dx |
I x^2 dx or integral of x^2 dx |
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ò12x2 dx |
Integral of x^2 dx between 1 and 2 |
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sin 2x |
(sin x)^2 |
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P( AÇ B) , P(AÈ B) |
P(A and B), P(A or B) |
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ex |
exp(x) |
exp is standard mathematical notation |
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q , a , b , p |
theta, alpha, beta, pi |
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AB, a |
Use the word vector if it's not clear from the context. For example, a = 8i + 6j + 5k where a, i, j, k are vectors |
This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.