What is word equation editor

For many years, Microsoft Word has been listed as the world’s most famous word processor. It is therefore a widely used program, both in private tours and also at professional and academic level .

In this sense, Word allows you to insert all kinds of elements when writing any handwriting, in order to enrich it as much as possible . Thus, it is possible to add any type of images, graphics, figures with shapes and even easily add math equations . However, many users have difficulty with this.

That is why it is worth knowing all the information concerning the procedure for inserting equations in a Word document . Taking into account that many of them are predefined in the program and can also be edited or created from scratch.

Word Equation Editor What is this tool and what is it for?

First of all, it is essential to know what is the Word Equation Editor and its main features. Because this is the only mechanism that allows you to insert and use formulas in any document .

Thus, we emphasize that the Word Equation Editor is defined as a tool available to this Microsoft application and is responsible for simplifying the process of adding mathematical expressions in order to facilitate the writing of scientific and technical text.

Therefore, this editor allows you to comfortably create complex equations in Word , simply by selecting the available symbols from a toolbar and writing numbers or variables on some kind of template. In addition, when creating the formula, the tool automatically adjusts font sizes, spacing and formatting . Thus, it maintains mathematical and typographical conventions with high quality.

Steps to insert an equation into my Microsoft Word documents

Besides the fact that the Office word processor contains equations which can be easily and directly inserted into any writing, it also offers other alternatives to its users, in case these integrated formulas do not meet their requirements for a certain project .

Therefore, there is also the possibility of develop and / or create new equations to from this Microsoft Word tool, as well as edit or change the existing formula .

So, below, we will explain each of the steps to perform these procedures:

Integrated equations

These equations are also called «Word’s default equations» and, as the name suggests, they refer to formulas that are already in the program by default.

If you want to use them, the steps are as follows:

• Initially, you need to make sure that Microsoft Word is up to date to make this process much easier to do. So, open the document in which you need to add equations and go to the exact place in the text where you want to insert them .
• After that, go to the options bar which appears at the top of the main program window, where it houses all the tabs available to manage the document. The, click on the «Insert» section which is in third position (from left to right).

• Now they will show you different options and among all, you have to look for the one that says «Equation» . This one is located at the end of the bar and is characterized by its icon of the number Pi. In case it doesn’t appear like this, click on the triangle under the word «Symbols» and there you will see this option to select it.
• Once done, a drop-down menu will open which is the gallery of all formulas available in Microsoft Word by default.

• Last but not least, find and click on the equation you need , which will immediately appear in the chosen part of the text. In addition, by clicking on the “Equation” option, you will open the Design tab of the equation tools with symbols and structures that can be added to it.

Write new equations

As we mentioned at the beginning, thanks to the equation editor of this word processor, all users have the possibility to create new equations in their digital documents . Fortunately, this mechanism is also very simple to implement and above all very useful.

Therefore, if you need to add your own formulas in Word writings and create them from scratch, here is how to proceed :

• As in the previous case, make sure you have updated your Microsoft Word and go to the document you want to manage to insert your own equations .
• Now is the time click on the «Insert» tab and there you must also click on the option that says «Equation» .
• Subsequently, under the gallery of available formulas, it is possible to view three available options and among them, one which indicates «Insert a new equation» . Which, you will have to press .

• Finally, in the part of the text that you have chosen with the cursor, an equation placeholder will appear where you can write the formula you need . In addition, the equation tools design window opens to add all the symbols you need.

If, for reasons of productivity or simplicity when writing your text, you want add self-created equation to Word’s formula gallery , it is possible to do so. In this case, the procedure consists of:

• Following the process detailed above, proceed to build your equation and once created, select it with the pointer .
• Now in the equation position box you need to click on the down arrow and among the available selections, click on «Save as a new equation …» .

• With the above, a small dialog window identified as «Create a new building block» will be displayed . Thanks to it, you can add a name to the formula and define its category in the equation gallery. Done alone, click on «OK» and you are done .

Edit equations from the editor

On the other hand, it is likely that while writing a certain equation you had some errors which you checked after writing or saving it in Word gallery. As a result, you want to change it or modify it later and you don’t know how to proceed in these cases.

However, we point out that, Thanks to the equation editor of this tool, it is possible to perform such editing quickly and easily through the following process:

• In the document that contains the formula in question, find it and select it to display the Equation Tools section at the top of the panel, i.e. in the program ribbon .
• At this point you will see that there are several alternatives out there and among these, go mainly to «Design» to be able to choose the elements you want to add or modify in the equation.

Then we explain what each of the available groups is covered in the section on designing equation tools :

• Tools : This box offers several alternatives and among the most substantial when editing equations, we find the option «Professional», which is a function in charge of displaying the formula in a professional format and optimized for its presentation. Il there is also the «Linear» alternative which simply displays the equation as source text and usually in «UnicodeMath» or «LaTeX» format (this can be defined in the conversion snippet).
• Symbols : from this group you can find endless math symbols . If you need to get more than the ones shown by default, you can click on «More» (the last arrow down).
• structures : It consists of a group that offers various structures that can be inserted into any equation. To do this, you must select a structure and there, replace placeholders with their own values .

If you can’t get the equation tools this way, it is likely that you developed the formula using an older version of Microsoft Word . Therefore, the procedure for modifying an equation under these conditions is different and, basically, it can be done from the following steps :

• To get started, navigate to the document in your word processor, search for and double click on the equation object you need to modify or edit .
• Secondly, use symbols, patterns and frames which you can see in the toolbar belonging to the option «Equation» to adapt the formula as you wish.
• Finally, located in the program, click anywhere in the writing to return to the document and save the change made .

What’s new in the equation editor What are the improvements in the latest version?

Due to some error messages issued by the equation editor of some previous versions of Word and also due to some security issues , in the most recent editions, several improvements and new features have been added in general terms , so that around the equation editor specifically .

So, given that this is such a fundamental utility in Microsoft’s word processor, it is worth knowing what is this most important news . Reason why, we proceed to their mention:

• Write equations in linear format : refers to a representation of a mathematical element in a line of documents. Thus, Word supports There are two linear formats for mathematics which are Unicode and LaTeX .
• Use LaTex syntax in equations : Today, Word supports the well-known LaTex math format for creating and editing math formulas. In other words, there is already the possibility of writing equations by selecting this syntax in the «Equations» selection in Insert .
• Automatically convert expressions to professional format : Using Word’s math auto-correction feature, you can simplify the format of «Unicode Math» recognizing phrases and symbols as they are written and understanding them thus converting to a professional format when creating the equation .

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, we will get back to you as soon as possible, and it will be a great help for more community members as well. Thank you!

This book is about the Math Builder (officially called as Equation Editor) tool in Microsoft Word and Outlook 2007 and higher. It also applies to Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel 2010 and higher. Note that this is a different tool than the legacy tool Equation Editor 3.0 (which is still available on 32-bit Office versions until the January 2018 update^[1]) and MathType.

Typesetting mathematics on a computer has always been a challenge. The mathematical community almost universally accepts a typesetting language called LaTeX. Math Builder is a much easier to use tool that has less functionality than LaTeX but more than typical document processing. Microsoft call this hybrid language the Office Math Markup Language, or OMML for short. It is an appropriate tool for:

• Typing any document whose focus is not itself mathematics.
• Typing a short math document quickly.
• A stepping stone between word processing (MS Word) and typesetting (LaTeX)

Note that Math Builder does not perform any mathematics; it is a tool for displaying it.

Pros and Cons[edit | edit source]

Pros:

• Math Builder is WYSIWYG: after typing an equation you see immediately what it looks like.
• It’s easy to get started: it’s already built in to Microsoft Word. Common symbols have point-and-click icons.
• It’s easy to use: Common symbols have keyboard shortcuts so that a veteran user need not use a mouse at all.
• Nearly all symbols use the same commands as LaTeX.
• The format used is non-proprietary and given in Unicode Technical Note #28.
• It can be used in Outlook to easily write equations in emails; it renders as images to the recipent.

Cons:

• Some uncommon symbols are not listed in the menu and require knowing the keyboard shortcut. Typically this is the LaTeX code for the symbol.
• There are differences between Math Builder and LaTeX code: advanced functionality that requires more than just a symbol tend to follow the same flavor but have slightly different syntax. Math Builder code tends to be shorter than LaTeX code and disappears upon completion to the WYSIWYG output. Examples here are matrices, multiple aligned equations, and binomial coefficients.
• No LaTeX typesetting tools such as labels and references are implemented.
• No highly advanced LaTeX tools such as graphing, commutative diagrams, or geometric shapes are implemented. (Note:- Geometric shapes are otherwise available in the Insert ribbon)
• Students studying mathematics might not be motivated to learn LaTeX because they might be able to get by with Equation Builder in Word to satisfy the vast majority of their needs. However, when such a student reaches the limits, unlike LaTeX there is absolutely no recourse to expand the program to satisfy it.

Inserting an equation[edit | edit source]

Microsoft Word has two different typing environments: text and math. To obtain the math environment, click on «Equation» on the «Insert» ribbon on Windows or Word for Mac ’16, or in «Document Elements» on Word for Mac ’11. The keyboard shortcut is «alt»+ «=». For a Mac system, the shortcut is control + «=». Everything you type in this environment is considered math: all automatic formatting of text is disabled. To exit the math environment, click on any text outside the math environment. One easy way to do this is by pressing the right arrow key.

Common Mathematics[edit | edit source]

Fractions[edit | edit source]

There are multiple ways to display a fraction. The default is vertically aligned as illustrated below. Obtain this by typing the fraction and pressing space: 1/2

Linear fraction (resp. skewed fraction) is obtained using ldiv (resp. sdiv) and pressing space (twice) or by typing 1 ldiv 2 (resp. 1 sdiv 2) and pressing space. While you can also do this by right-clicking on the equation and clicking Linear, this affects the whole equation and not just the fraction.

Parenthesis, brackets, and braces[edit | edit source]

Grouping symbols will automatically size to the appropriate size. These symbols include «(), {}, [], ||». For instance, the expression below can be obtained with (1/2(x+1)):

Be careful to press space after the «2» to render the fraction, otherwise Word might put «x+1» in the denominator. Also press space after typing every closing parenthesis «)», which will adjust both the opening and closing parentheses size to fit the group’s contents. Because the 1/2 fraction is is quite tall, the outer parentheses need to be adjusted to enclose the fraction appropriately. To be exact, the key presses required to reproduce the equation above are ( 1 / 2 space ( x + 1 ) space ) space.

Exponents and subscripts[edit | edit source]

Exponents can be obtained by using «^» and subscripts by «_». The monomial below can be obtained by typing x_2^5 or x^5_2 and pressing space.

Symbols: etc[edit | edit source]

These are all common symbols. The easiest thing to do would be to find a LaTeX reference sheet. A few of those symbols are shown here:

code	output
neq or /=
leq or <= (resp. geq or >= )	(resp )
subseteq
vee
rightarrow
Rightarrow
times
div
pm
infty
otimes (resp. oplus)	(resp. )
hbar
partial

Greek, Script, and Fraktur letters[edit | edit source]

The math environment implements 3 fronts in addition to the default.

Blackboard Bold letters[edit | edit source]

Blackboard bold letters can be obtained by typing «» followed by «double» followed by the letter. doubled doubleD produces

Mathematical Physics[edit | edit source]

Vectors[edit | edit source]

A vector is often denoted by an overhead right arrow, which can be obtained by following a letter variable with «vec»: . Unit vectors (e.g. ) are denoted by a hat (circumflex), which can be obtained by following a letter variable with «hat». The gradient (also known as del or nabla) operator may be displayed using «nabla».

Newtonian Dot Notation[edit | edit source]

Dot notation for time derivatives (e.g. )
can be obtained by following a letter variable with «dot» for a first derivative and «ddot» for a second derivative.

Vector Products[edit | edit source]

The dot product (inner product) can be displayed using the centered dot symbol «cdot» e.g. the divergence . The cross product can be displayed using «times» e.g. the curl .

Matrices[edit | edit source]

Matrices are obtained with the «matrix» symbol. Use parentheses to start and end the matrix. Use «@» to separate rows, and «&» to separate columns. The matrix below can be created by typing [matrix(1&2&3@4&5&6)].

Multiple Aligned Equations[edit | edit source]

Aligning equations can be obtained with the «eqarray» symbol. Use parentheses to start and end the matrix. Use «@» to separate equations. Use «&» to specify alignment and whitespace. The first «&» and then every other occurrence is alignment. The second and then every other occurrence is white space. The equations below can be obtained by typing the following text:

eqarray(2&x+&3&y=5@&x+&&y=7)

(The math environment here seems to be adding excess space between the alignments that doesn’t occur in Word)

Radicals[edit | edit source]

Radicals are obtained using the «sqrt» symbol, followed by the index, then «&», then the radicand.

For example: sqrt(a&b) will output .

Additionally, sqrt(x) will simply output .

Integrals[edit | edit source]

code	output
int
int_a^b
iint_a^b
iiint_a^b
oint_a
oiint_a	∯ Double oriented integral (No corresponding Wikibooks math symbol)
oiiint_a	∰ Triple oriented integral (No corresponding Wikibooks math symbol)
coint_a	∲ Clockwise oriented integral (No corresponding Wikibooks math symbol)

Integrals are obtained by inserting the desired integral symbol (see above table), and then pressing space twice.^[2]

For example: int_a^b space space 1/x space dx will output

Inline versus Display[edit | edit source]

Equations have two forms. Inline specifies that the equation is to be in line with text. This affects a few expressions to make them appear smaller. For instance fractions will use a smaller font. Summations and integrals will place the endpoints to the right of the symbol instead of below it.
Display specifies to use as much space as needed. Display mode equations must appear on their own line.

Modifying and creating shortcuts[edit | edit source]

Everything in Math Builder requires special symbols that the computer knows how to interpret. These symbols are constructed with all the commands starting with «» as illustrated in the above sections. This is implemented via math autocorrect which you can modify. For instance, you might like to use ra instead of rightarrow. You can do this by adding the command to the math autocorrect directory.

References[edit | edit source]

1. ↑ https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Equation-Editor-6eac7d71-3c74-437b-80d3-c7dea24fdf3f
2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module ‘Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions’ not found.