# [Blindmath] A question about Microsoft Words equation editor

Neil Soiffer NeilS at dessci.com
Thu Jan 7 11:48:43 CST 2010

To clarify a bit, using LaTeX with MathType/Word only requires learning how
to use LaTeX's equation syntax, which is much less to learn than learning
all of LaTeX especially if you are not doing fancy things.  The basics, to
get you started are:
"\" is used to begin a command
use {} to group items/characters -- LaTeX knows nothing about numbers, etc
use $expression$, $$expression$$ to start/end inline and display
expressions, respectively

fractions:  \frac{numerator}{denonminator}
sqrt roots:  \sqrt{root}
superscripts:  base^{superscript}   [if 'superscript' is a single char, {}s
are not needed, but can be used]
subscripts:  base_{subscript} [if 'subscript' is a single char, {}s are not
needed, but can be used]
greek letters:  \alpha, \beta, ...  [use a capital first letter for the cap
versions as in \Sigma]
other things:  \sin, \cos, \int (integral), \sum (summation), etc.

See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Formula for a complete list of the
TeX syntax accepted by MathType (this is *not* all of TeX/LaTeX!).

There is much, much more to learning all of TeX or LaTeX (which is very
powerful and is actually a programming language).  But for most people using
LaTeX for math, the above list is most of what you need to know.

Neil Soiffer
Senior Scientist
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, WebEQ, Equation
Editor ~

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 6:31 PM, Greg <gwblindman1 at gwblindman.org> wrote:

> Hello,
> How hard is LATEX to learn?  I never heard of it before I joined this list.
> Thanks,
> Greg Wocher
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Gardner" <john.gardner at orst.edu>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:25 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] A question about Microsoft Words equation editor
>
>
>  MS Word 2007's native math editor has a display mode that is
>> quasi-accessible.  You'd need to add some symbols to your screen reader
>> dictionary and be willing to put up with a ton of parentheses.  If you are
>> lucky you might get somebody at Microsoft to help you a bit, but as far as I
>> know there are no tutorials for using this math editor with a screen reader.
>>  So unless somebody else knows of additional information, you'd be on your
>> own.
>>
>> Frankly I would just install MathType and use it in MS Word.  MathType is
>> usable by a blind person if you know how to read and write Latex equations.
>>
>>
>> On 1/6/2010 3:28 PM, Greg wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>> I have some questions about Microsoft words equation editor:
>>> 1.  Is it accessible?
>>> 2.  If so is it fairly easy to use?
>>> The reason I ask is that I am taking a college algebra class online and
>>> we have to use it if we do our assignments electronically instead of
>>> handwriting the assignment.
>>> Thank you in advance,
>>> Greg Wocher
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