Formatting equations

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Hi. Is it possible to change the default font of equations. I know you can change the font once the equation has been created, but I would like the font to default to the same font as my normal.do.

Does anyone know how or even if this is possible?

Thanks

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Word has a huge number of predefined styles. However, I don’t know whether there is such a style for equations. Does there seem to be one? If so, you should be able to change the default by saving a revised definition to the Normal template. (Exact approach depends on your version of Word.)

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Thanks, my version of Word is 2003 SP3.

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Can you post a sample document with an equation? I’m not sure I can view it in Word 2010 without the equation turning into a picture, but perhaps someone with Word 2003 can assist.

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I have been using Microsoft word for the longest time and I have been satisfied with it. Until recently, when I had to write a long conference paper, which I am a guest speaker for.

Someone then suggested me of a type setting program that would make writing a scholarly paper easier as it would be the one to handle all of the required format you are to use.

With Office, you have to worry of two things, content and format. While you can just worry about your content if you have a template to work with.

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There is a free, downloadable Microsoft Mathematics Add-in available for Office 2010 (at least). Cambria Math is the font that is used. I think there is something (such as a math option) in Windows 7 as well, which may be a prerequisite.

If that is of no help, it depends on what is available to you. There are plenty of math fonts, including at least three for Lucida Bright (Lucida Bright Math Extension, Lucida Bright Math Italic, and Lucida Bright Math Symbol) which you might turn up with a web search if you don’t already have them. You will already have Lucida Bright and other members of the Lucida family if you have Windows.

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http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15702“]Microsoft Mathematics 4[/url] is an application that runs directly under Windows with no requirement for Office, although it has the ability to paste into Word. It will run under XP and above. (I think it can be installed on handheld as well.)

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17786“]Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote[/url] will run under XP and higher, but I just realized that I’m not sure which level of Office the Office programs must be.

For your purposes I suggest you install both, if both will install. That is because such programs usually install their own set of fonts in addition to any you may already have, and hence provide symbols that may suit your purposes.

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The Overview for Math 4 may be a more useful page, with many links to its capabilities and uses. Math 4 is a solving tool using a computer, and it will perform the necessary operations for you on the fly, which can be very impressive if used in lectures or in the field.

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Angie,
I’m running Word 2003. If I insert a “Formula” using a word field, the result will use the default font or the font at the insertion point. But you said “equation.” To insert a complex equation in Word 2003, you use MS Equation Editor (Insert|Object …MS Equation), which inserts a text/picture box. The Style Menu in the editor allows you to change the styles used for different components of the equation, e.g., variables, text, greek letters.
Also on the Style Menu is the Define … option. This option allows you to assign any of Word’s fonts independently to the several components.

If your equations are created using the editor, the define style function should allow you to change the default font, at least for the text parts of the equation. Note, however, that the greek letter and symbol components should probably be left at their default “symbol” fonts. Other fonts may not produce the proper results. Hope this helps. Ron_R

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Excellent answer, Ron. In fact, the biggest problem we see with Equation Editor (aka “Microsoft Equation 3.0”) is when people set the font for the Greek and “Symbol” styles to be something other than Symbol font. There are other fonts besides Symbol that will work for these 3 styles, but most fonts won’t work, so it’s safest to just leave it set to Symbol.

Bob Mathews
Design Science

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If you are dealing with higher mathematics, I think you may find that all of the math applications discussed so far will be limited, since they only go so high. If you are using a dedicated math program like Mathematica, it will likely have its own fonts. If fonts alone are sufficient and you want the whole nine yards, fonts are available free of charge from The American Mathematical Society.

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Actually I’m not aware of any higher-level mathematics notation that MathType can’t handle. Of course, you can’t compare MathType and Mathematica (not that you were suggesting we do that), because their purpose is totally different.

Besides the AMS fonts, the STIX Fonts is a collection of 23 OpenType fonts intended for math typesetting, and available free of charge.

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The STIX fonts do indeed look attractive, and they have the benefit of being OTF. Segoe is a font now widely used by Microsoft, including Segoe UI Symbol, so that might be worth a look if you are trying to stick to MS. The Open Source DejaVu family is character-rich, with an extensive set of mathematical symbols. I suggest that might be worth a download. It was developed from Bitstream Vera, which Bitstream kindly contributed.

Since we are all running different or at least unknown configurations, I am just reporting what is available to me with Win 7 and Office 2010. Windows Character Map is available in Accessories > System Tools, so I find a desktop shortcut to be convenient. I click on that, select a font – say Segoe UI Symbol – and click on Advanced View > Character Set [Unicode] > Group by [Unicode Subrange] > Mathematical Operators. Then I can Search for, or simply select the character I want – say a triple integral – and click Copy. That is convenient for ‘shopping around’ to see what is available in Windows. You can accomplish the same thing in Word by selecting Insert > Symbol > Font > Subset, and going through much the same routine. Word will retain your sixteen most recently used symbols to keep them handy for re-use. I should add that those features will only see active fonts – if you want to compare them with inactive fonts then you must activate the other font(s).

In XP, Segoe is installed when you install Live Messenger or Live Mail. You don’t have to keep the programs – the fonts will remain. You can collect an assortment of additional fonts just by installing various free Microsoft applications. Microsoft Reader is a good example: four instances each of two fonts you may not already have.

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