Vectors in equation editor

[Ben]

I'm doing maths at uni and we have to type out our equations, which i thought
would be fine. The only problem is that we are doing vectors and the symbol
for vectors is a letter with a tilde (~) placed underneath it. In the old
equation editor you used to be able to do this, but I can't find it anywhere.
Is there a way to do it in the current equation editor or will I have to get
MathType or something similar?

 

[Bob Mathews]

Well you left out a critical piece of information -- what version of
Word are you using? I can't speak for the OMML equation editor (that's
the new one in Word 2007), but this type of notation is not possible
with Microsoft Equation 3.0 except with a work-around (that's the
equation editor that's been around since Word 2.0). Microsoft Equation
3.0 is still available in Word 2007 (Insert > Object), if you want to
look through the palettes to see what's there.

You're wondering about MathType. With MathType, you can definitely put
a tilde very easily beneath a single character with an
"embellishment". Embellishments are in the third palette from the left
on the top row, and are applied to the character immediately to the
left of the insertion point (i.e., the cursor).

--
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
MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, WebEQ, Equation Editor

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Ben,

There is a way, although it takes some unintuitive setup. (By the way,
MathType is highly recommended anyway!)

- In an empty equation box, type the number 0330 and press Alt+X. That
inserts a character from the Cambria Math font called "Combining Tilde
Below" (which you can find in the Combining Diacritical Marks section of the
Insert > Symbol dialog).

- Select that character. Click the tiny arrow in the lower right corner of
the Tools group on the Equation Tools ribbon, and click the Math AutoCorrect
button in the dialog.

- In the AutoCorrect dialog, the tilde will already be in the "With" box. In
the Replace box to the left, type a name such as \utilde (or anything else
you can easily remember, and that isn't already in use). Click the Add
button and then OK both dialogs.

Now, in any equation, you can type the letter for the vector followed by the
name you assigned to the combining tilde, followed by the space bar (which
will force the replacement but won't insert a space character). The result
will be a tilde below the letter.

Incidentally, in my former career as an editor of science and maths
textbooks, I very rarely saw a tilde or anything else below a letter used to
indicate a vector. It's much more common to use a boldface character, with
or without an arrow above it. The arrow-above is on the Accent gallery.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Ben]

I'm using word 2007

Well you left out a critical piece of information -- what version of
Word are you using? I can't speak for the OMML equation editor (that's
the new one in Word 2007), but this type of notation is not possible
with Microsoft Equation 3.0 except with a work-around (that's the
equation editor that's been around since Word 2.0). Microsoft Equation
3.0 is still available in Word 2007 (Insert > Object), if you want to
look through the palettes to see what's there.

You're wondering about MathType. With MathType, you can definitely put
a tilde very easily beneath a single character with an
"embellishment". Embellishments are in the third palette from the left
on the top row, and are applied to the character immediately to the
left of the insertion point (i.e., the cursor).

--
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
MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, WebEQ, Equation Editor

 

[Ben]

I'm not sure if I missed a step or something, but it didn't seem to work. The
tilde was placed next to the letter but down the bottom, like a subscript,
whereas I need it to be underneath the letter.

Often in printing they just use bold letters to represent vectors, but since
you can't do bold when working by hand we use tildes Our lecturer still wants
us to use them even when we're typing it out.

 

[Jay Freedman]

After typing \utilde, you probably have to press the spacebar twice -- once to
do the replacement and a second time to make the tilde combine with the letter.

As I try this more, though, I've found a problem. It works with letters that are
no taller than a lower case x; but with letters such as 'h' or 'k' that have
"ascenders" and with all upper case letters, the tilde moves up into the body of
the letter. The same is true for the \ubar entry, which uses the "combining
macron below" character (0331). I'm filing a bug report for this.