Using Word for science and math based papers

[Frustrated and Seeing Red]

Is there any way to tell spell check to ignore wrods with subscripts and/or
superscripts??? Or to use subscripts in the "Microsoft Equation" object
interface?

I hate turning off spell check completely (I don't trust myself that much
and it is nice to quickly see major errors), but when checking for spelling
and grammar errors, I hate seeing little red and green squiggle lines under
every equation; it makes for a longer time checking the spelling and grammar.
I know you can tell it to "ignore all" but there are many different
variables (and therefore "words" with subscripts), that is why we use
subscripts in the first place. thus, even, "ignore all" requires a lot of
clicking, and sometimes reopenning the document (especially on another
machine) will cause the spell checker to mark these items as mispelled again.

I have looked into using the "Microsoft Equation 3.0" application, which is
very helpful for finding commonly used math symbols (as opposed to scrolling
through the symbol menu). However, I can't seem to figure out how to use
subscripts in the application.

Any help, or suggestions would be nice. Maybe I should be using a different
program for my reports, but Word tends to be the easiest and most readily
available and transferable why to create a paper which includes extensive
text as well as equations, figures, and tables.

 

[Bob Mathews]

I have looked into using the "Microsoft Equation 3.0"
application, which is very helpful for finding commonly used
math
symbols (as opposed to scrolling through the symbol menu).
However, I can't seem to figure out how to use subscripts in
the
application.

I realize this doesn't answer your original question about
spell-checking words with sub/superscripts, but I can address the
Equation Editor issue.

When Equation Editor is open, there are two rows of palettes. The
top row of palettes contains symbols (such as less than,
perpendicular, theta, etc.), and the bottom row contains
templates (such as fractions, roots, sub/superscripts, etc.). The
symbols & templates on the palette buttons are indicators of
what's inside. For example, the first palette button on the
symbol palette bar has these symbols on the button: less than or
equal to, not equal to, approximately equal to. Clicking once on
this button drops the palette down to reveal the entire contents
of 11 relational operator symbols. You then find the one you
want, and click on it to insert it into your equation. Before you
click though, as you hover the mouse pointer over an item, notice
the status bar (the bottom of the Word window). The left side of
the status bar will show a description of what it is you're
pointing to.

So, for those superscripts...

Like I said earlier, superscripts are on the template palette
bar, but before we insert the superscript template, we need to
type the base first. If you need x-squared, type x. Now hover the
mouse pointer over the third one from the left, and the status
bar reveals that this palette contains "Subscript and superscript
templates". Click once to drop down the palette, and you'll find
the superscript template is the first one listed (i.e., it's in
the first row, first column). Click this, type your superscript,
then press the Tab key to move the insertion point (i.e., cursor)
outside the superscript template, down to the base level of the
equation.

There's a pretty good Help file in Equation Editor too, so if you
need information on things like keyboard shortcuts, setting fonts
& sizes, or any one of dozens of topics, that's a good place to
start.

--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Re Spell-checking--create a character style, eg "Equation", and define
it with "do not check spelling and grammar" set. Then format all
equations, etc, in that style.
The style doesn't have to look different--it will be Default Paragraph
Font + "do not check spelling and grammar"

For more on creating character styles, see:
http://www.officearticles.com/tutorials/an_extreme_tutorial_on_styles_in_microsoft_word.htm
(scroll down a lot to reach heading Character Styles)

You can assign character styles a keyboard shortcut to make it easy to
assign. You can also Find and Replace to format with a style retroactively.