[Home]   [FAQ]   [Search]   [Memberlist]   [Usergroups]   [Register]

Author Message
plampione
Newbie

Joined: 04 Mar 2007
Posts: 4

 Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:52 pm    Post subject: How to use math in impress? Dear All, I used to use Powerpoint with the excellent TexPoint plug-in, and I am now interested in trying OO for my presentations. I have a few questions related to math: Is there a way to include math formulas in-line? Somethign that would enable me, for example, to write in proper font: \forall a \in A, \exists b \in B ... (with \forall, etc, replaced by the proper characters). Is there a way to NOT protect formula size by default? It is so incredibly annoying not to be able to resize formulas in a single click... Is there a FAST way to use subscripts and superscripts? Is there a fast way to introduce special symbols, such as arrows, set operators, etc, while typing text? Thanks!
acknak
Moderator

Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 4295
Location: ~ 40°N,75°W

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:21 pm    Post subject:

I've not used Math at all for a presentation: you're right, it's astoundingly clunky for anything beyond a bare formula.

About the best approach I could find is to create the content in Writer, where you can have true inline equations, then paste that into a presentation (the default paste format is OLE object). Even then, it's a bit of work to get it to look right, and it seems impossible to edit a formula within an OLE object. You can of course go back and edit it in the Writer document and then copy/paste it again.

This method does at least allow you to smoothly scale the size of the text+formula object.

I found it suprising that you can't copy/paste a formula out of the stand-alone Math window at all.

PS: Reading your post again, I have to ask: You are aware that OOO includes a very nice formula editor, aren't you? If not, try Insert > Formula, then in the lower (editing) panel, type:
 Code: forall a_i in A, exists b_i in B
plampione
Newbie

Joined: 04 Mar 2007
Posts: 4

 Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:31 pm    Post subject: Ok, this means OO sucks for scientific presentations. Does anyone know how to extend the autocorrect feature? Maybe I can teach OO at least to replace \alpha with the symbol alpha, \in with the symbol "belongs", etc, automatically...
ftack
Moderator

Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 3102
Location: Belgium

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:12 am    Post subject:

 Quote: s there a way to include math formulas in-line? Somethign that would enable me, for example, to write in proper font: \forall a \in A, \exists b \in B ... (with \forall, etc, replaced by the proper characters).

You can embed math equations in Impress documents using Insert - OLE object - OOO Formula. However, you cannot have them "inline" with iother text objects: there is manual aligning of the different objects involved.

However, the Math editor allows for coding some more than one formula: you could also have accompanying text within one object, e.g.
 Code: alignl    forall a "in" A "if" a in E divides {} newline alignc    {ax^2 + b = c}

where alignl and alignc left-align and center align (obvious the math in the example is nonsense

Text in quotes "" is treated as "text". Without quotes, it is treated as variables.

 Quote: Is there a way to NOT protect formula size by default? It is so incredibly annoying not to be able to resize formulas in a single click...

The size of OOo objects is indeed protected. The object can be unprotected, resized, but the automaticall;y is protected again. i consider this a bug and it has been filed: see
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=28813

Yet, a preferred approach for handling the size of equations, especially in your case where you will work with multiple equations on a slide, is to change the font of the formula. Inside the formula editor (after double-clicking the math object), choose "Format - Font size". This way, you will assure that the font size of your equations is exactly the same between equation objects and matches your other text exactly.

In the Font sizes dialog, you can press the "default" button to automatically have the same fonts size for future Math objects you insert. Alternatively, you can copy an existing formula object and change that to create a new formula.

 Quote: Is there a FAST way to use subscripts and superscripts?

With the math syntax:
 Quote: ax^2 + bx + c "SO"_4^2-{}

 Quote: Is there a fast way to introduce special symbols, such as arrows, set operators, etc, while typing text?

There is the Selection dialog, but once you got acquainted with the Math language, it goes like Latex: just type the code.

Conclusion: OOo does not really suck for scientific presentations. Just as with any software, it just takes some effort to learn the tools.

With respect to your autocorrect question: you probably found out by now that it is possible.

Edit @ ackak
Indeed, having the whole thing in a Writer document and pasting is another option. Yet you need, after pasting, to double click the Writer OLE, then change the boundaries of the object in order to have everything displayed, then click outside of the OLE object and have a final resize. Indeed, the OLE objects within the Writer object cannot be edited, and also that issue has been filed.

http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=27439
acknak
Moderator

Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 4295
Location: ~ 40°N,75°W

 Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:32 am    Post subject: Good points ftack. I'm not sure if all this adds up to "OO sucks for scientific presentations.", but I would say that the level of suckiness is pretty high in this case. Personally, I would wonder about the need to really inline formulas and text in a presentation, but if I did really need to do it, I would just do it all in Writer and use the PDF as the presentation format. For an integrated suite of applications, the level of cooperation and integration between the different OOo apps is just awful.
ftack
Moderator

Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 3102
Location: Belgium

 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:34 am    Post subject: In defense of OOo, I wonder if the "competition" does better with respect to formula's? Anyway, for a "nice presentation to a broader audience", you should not include plenty of formula's on a slide. For highly technical mathematical presentations, the Writer + PDF approach indeed might be the best. Since version 2.1, PDF export features an "Open full screen mode" setting. Double-clicking such a PDF on Windows with Adobe Acrobat will immediately display your neat white landscape page with gorgeous formula's full screen. Fully professional. Nobody can tell whether the source was a word processor document or a presentation. You still can flourish that up with a few colors and pictures where needed
zingale
General User

Joined: 21 Oct 2004
Posts: 14

 Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:16 pm    Post subject: OOoLatex use OOoLatex -- allows you to insert equations into presentations using Latex syntax http://ooolatex.sf.net
ramack
General User

Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 45
Location: Centennial, CO

 Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:14 am    Post subject: Is there a fast way to use sub/supercripts? http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/openofficeimpress/ig/OpenOffice-Font-Colors/06font-position.htm Rich
 Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First
 All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1

 Jump to: Select a forum OpenOffice.org Forums----------------Setup and TroubleshootingOpenOffice.org WriterOpenOffice.org CalcOpenOffice.org ImpressOpenOffice.org DrawOpenOffice.org MathOpenOffice.org BaseOpenOffice.org Macros and APIOpenOffice.org Code Snippets Community Forums----------------General DiscussionSite Feedback
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
{"extraction_info": {"found_math": false, "script_math_tex": 0, "script_math_asciimath": 0, "math_annotations": 0, "math_alttext": 0, "mathml": 0, "mathjax_tag": 0, "mathjax_inline_tex": 0, "mathjax_display_tex": 0, "mathjax_asciimath": 0, "img_math": 0, "codecogs_latex": 0, "wp_latex": 0, "mimetex.cgi": 0, "/images/math/codecogs": 0, "mathtex.cgi": 0, "katex": 0, "math-container": 0, "wp-katex-eq": 0, "align": 0, "equation": 0, "x-ck12": 0, "texerror": 0, "math_score": 0.8959446549415588, "perplexity": 3591.8665845909904}, "config": {"markdown_headings": true, "markdown_code": true, "boilerplate_config": {"ratio_threshold": 0.18, "absolute_threshold": 10, "end_threshold": 15, "enable": true}, "remove_buttons": true, "remove_image_figures": true, "remove_link_clusters": true, "table_config": {"min_rows": 2, "min_cols": 3, "format": "plain"}, "remove_chinese": true, "remove_edit_buttons": true, "extract_latex": true}, "warc_path": "s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1412037663551.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20140930004103-00359-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz"}