As an alternative to Microsoft Word, you might want to try Open Office.org, which can be downloaded from http://www.openoffice.org/ . The equation editor is a markup language, and a friendly one. You have the choice of typing the markup text, or mouse clicking. Your final document can be exported into PDF. There is also MathML, but I have never used it, and so I can't comment. Gene --- Steve Gray <stevebg@adelphia.net> wrote:
I used Latex for my one and so far only published math paper (in the AMM, 3/03) and did get it to do a good job. But learning it was no fun, and I will have to relearn most of it for my next paper (due out before the end of the decade: I work slowly). The basic mode of Latex, of interleaving text with obscure commands, was largely obsolete interface-wise at least 15 years ago. The fact that it's not wysiwyg is a huge handicap. There's gotta be something wrong with a situation where the software goes bananas if you so much as leave out one dollar sign. I encourage you to try (without having done it previously) to format a complicated table in Latex. It's user-hostile geekware. If it were easier to use I would have already sent off my long-promised entries to Eric's Math Encyclopedia. I'm amazed that no enterprising programmer has undertaken to provide a friendly interface for it at a low price. Until then, I am tempted to write in Word (which has some lousy features and quite a few bugs) and Eequation, and translate it to Latex using one of the apps on the market. They don't handle certain complexities well, but neither do I when using Latex. Note: I am known for being very critical and quite intolerant of lousy interfaces. I make no exception for Knuth's stuff. I expect this message to generate more than its share of (polite) sneering and derision.
Steve Gray
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Landauer" <cal@rush.aero.org> To: <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Cc: <cal@rush.aero.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 1:38 PM Subject: [math-fun] math paper tool = latex
hihi, all -
i've used latex for some decades now (well, maybe two), and found it to be superb for what i need
it runs on unixen and on windows
it is free
it is supported by a wide community
more later, cal
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