Microsoft Equation Editor Shortcuts
by Rohan on November 5, 2009
Here are some tips for using Microsoft Office’s Equation Editor for your math classes. For those of you in Signals and Random Processes with me, this will come in real handy for taking down notes, doing assignments, etc. I find that the new Equation editor is a lot friendlier than the previous versions found in Word 2003 and older. You can write inline equations alongside your regular text in a breeze, which was annoying/challenging before.
Lets start with the basics: How to insert an equation in the document
This is super simple. There’s two ways of doing this:
- In the “ribbon” go to Insert -> Equation (it has a huge pi symbol above it, you can’t miss it)
- Use the keyboard shortcut Alt + = (that’s Alt and Equal)
Equation Editor 2007
I’m not going to explain all the things you can do in Equation Editor, but basically you can see the symbols, and the different functions you can put in to the right of the symbols. The interface is really simple to use; I’m sure you can figure it out.
Userful Keyboard Shortcuts
Here’s some useful keyboard shortcuts that Brad/Albert/Myself find useful while in Equation Editor:
Subscripts: _ (underscore) Eg: A_c for A subscript c
Superscript: ^ (carat/hat/whatever you want to call it) Eg: x^2 for x²
Division: / Eg: 1/2 for ½ Note: I can’t really give a good example without including an image but it gives 1 right above 2
Multiplication: \times gives you the multiplication symbol (×) or \bullet gives you a dot in the middle if you don’t want to use ×
Integral: \int brings up the integral symbol, combine with subscript and superscript to get definite integrals. Eg: \int_-10^10 for a definite integral from -10 to 10.
Greek letters: basically these are just \ then their name. Capitalize the first letter if you want a capital letter. Eg: \pi gives you π but a \Pi would give you an uppercase pi.
Arrows: -> <- ….you get the idea..
These are just a few of the commands..there’s a much more in-depth list available in pdf format at: http://bit.ly/9ajhbS. It’s really well done..and explained probably better than I do.
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, leave a comment!
