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iKarl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 9, 2006
18
0
I'm teaching a summerschool Algebra program for 7th and 8th graders and would like to write up some worksheets for them. I can't seem to find any good equation writing programs for OSX though. Don't have Office installed, so any alternatives I can find on the web to buy/download?
 
ditto. I need one, too.

One of my colleagues uses a variation of LateX called RevTeX. He once showed me how to use it but it's NOT user-friendly! This is probably all the more so because I am not a computer person.

Aren't there any Mac-native programs out there that can write equations for my research reports? If so, would you mind letting me know? I need one soon. Currently in the process of switching over to a Mac from PC. Until now, I've been using equation editor in Word but everytime I use it, it messes up line spacings. If you have used Equation Editor in Word, then you know what I am talking about.
 
ScarletRed said:
One of my colleagues uses a variation of LateX called RevTeX. He once showed me how to use it but it's NOT user-friendly! This is probably all the more so because I am not a computer person.

Aren't there any Mac-native programs out there that can write equations for my research reports? If so, would you mind letting me know? I need one soon. Currently in the process of switching over to a Mac from PC. Until now, I've been using equation editor in Word but everytime I use it, it messes up line spacings. If you have used Equation Editor in Word, then you know what I am talking about.
I have used MathEQ since it was called Expressionist. I love it. Way back in the day, I read a review that favored MathType over Expressionist (now MathEQ) because Expressionist was too exacting. To each his own, I suppose. MathMagic also seems to set beautiful equations. I would pick it over MathType.

As for your line spacing issue, I am guessing this is a Word issue rather than an Equation Editor issue. To be fair, this is an issue that is generic to word processors. You need a document editor which can constrain line spacing to a fixed value. DTP apps can do this. Word processors, not so much.

FWIW, professional journals that don't require submissions in TeX format will generally accept Word documents.
 
Thank you. I will check out MathEQ.

As far as I know, just about every journals I've dealt with acceptTeX format but not necessarily Word. That makes me wonder if any journals will accept documents written in Pages2. As I am still in the stage of learning to use Mac OS X, I haven't tried Pages2 other than viewing the demo. Any advice?
 
ScarletRed said:
Thank you. I will check out MathEQ.

As far as I know, just about every journals I've dealt with acceptTeX format but not necessarily Word. That makes me wonder if any journals will accept documents written in Pages2. As I am still in the stage of learning to use Mac OS X, I haven't tried Pages2 other than viewing the demo. Any advice?

I think that the chances of journals accepting articles written in Pages are pretty slim, at least refereed scientific ones. I generally submit articles in pdf format, so I can use Pages to export that if I like. Honestly though, I still use Word for most articles under 5 pages, just because it's what is used in my Windows-centric environment at work for collaborations. Longer stuff gets the LaTeX treatment.
 
Professional journals generally have a submission instructions in each issue. Follow those instructions are you are OK.
 
For me, the beauty of TeX, especially LaTeX and revTeX is that you don't have to worry about layout can use a simple text editor and will still get beautiful papers.

Like gauchogolfer I too have found that for many projects which are collaborative, that Word becomes the de facto standard, unless you're dealing with a bunch of physicists who still tend to be more TeX friendly. I haven't found too many TeX happy engineers, and one IEEE journal would not take TeX submissions only Word. <sigh> For one paper that was particularly equation heavy where I had 75% of the authorship I kept it in TeX but sent my collaborator a Word file of the text and a PDF for him to edit.

If the journal will take PDF (as is the case for many conference proceedings that want camera redy copy) you can probably get away with Pages...

B
 
I echo the LaTeX sentiment. It literally saved my Master's thesis after Word crashed and ate all my progress-to-date. I didn't have a very mathematical topic, so I didn't have too many equations, but those that I did have, were pretty easy to input using TeX. I use TeXshop on my Mac as an almost-WYSIWYG LaTeX editor.

Yes, it takes a bit of time to learn, but that time is probably going to be less than the time it takes you to fight off an "automatic" layout program ("No, stop putting that there! That's NOT what I meant! ... How do I do this?")
 
gauchogolfer said:
I think that the chances of journals accepting articles written in Pages are pretty slim, at least refereed scientific ones. I generally submit articles in pdf format, so I can use Pages to export that if I like. Honestly though, I still use Word for most articles under 5 pages, just because it's what is used in my Windows-centric environment at work for collaborations. Longer stuff gets the LaTeX treatment.
I tried unsuccessfully to write a conference proceeding in Pages, I basically got stalled by the fact that although pages accepted the Word template, it totally ignored the paper size, so I was basically unable to produce a camera ready proof of the right side. That concluded my experience with Pages, I put the money back in my pocket, sighed, and went back to crappy old Word. :(

LaTeX is what I use for refereed journals luckily, in my field they all accept it.
 
Loge said:
MathType is one option - it is actually the professional version of the equation editor included in Office. I don't use it myself though, I prefer to do any equation writing in LaTeX.

http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/
I have to agree with Loge. MathType is the best hands down. You can also purchase an academic license as well. Download the free trial and check to see if you like it. I use it a lot since since my work requires it and I find it more productive than others I've used.

Nuc
 
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