
In reality, however, it’s actually very straightforward. There are dozens of buttons, many of which reveal hundreds of different inserts. Since MathType is an accessory to your word processor, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.Īt first glance, MathType is a bit overwhelming, especially if complex equations make your head hurt. After all, Microsoft Word looks much the same now as it did 25 years ago. This isn’t really all that surprising, though. The primitive EGA look has been replaced, but the tools and functionality are unchanged. While the design has been updated a little since those early days, it still looks more or less the way it did all the way back in 1987. The software was first released in 1987, and its minimalist aesthetic reminds me of pre-XP operating systems. The first thing you’ll notice when you open MathType is that the program looks ancient. Some systems are capable of re-formatting formulae into simpler forms or to adjust line-breaking automatically, while preserving the mathematical meaning of a formula.Editor’s Note: I used LibreOffice to test MathType. Typical features include the ability to nest fractions, radicals, superscripts, subscripts, overscripts and underscripts together with special characters such as mathematical symbols, arrows and scalable parentheses. TeX or MathML, via a point-and-click GUI, or as computer generated results from symbolic computations such as Mathematica. They provide a means for users to specify input to computational systems that is easier to read and check than plain text input and output from computational systems that is easy to understand or ready for publication.Ĭontent for formula editors can be provided manually using a markup language,e.g.They allow word processing and publication of technical content either for print publication, or to generate raster images for web pages or screen presentations.Computer program used to typeset mathematical works or formulae A typeset mathematical expressionįormula editors typically serve two purposes:
