Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!well!ari
From: ari@well.sf.ca.us (Ari Davidow)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: typesetting math
Keywords: TeX, math, Penta, typesetting
Message-ID: <24633@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 8 May 91 00:31:37 GMT
Distribution: comp
Lines: 28


I am working with a textbook manufacturer on ways to facilitate
the typesetting of math. TeX, per se, simply doesn't cut it. It's
an amazing tool for generating math, but it's typographic and
font capabilities (at least, insofar as I am aware, which isn't
as far as it might be) are far too limited for our purposes.
Despite its limitations, for the moment we are using Penta
systems, and Penta Math as the type backend.
 
We are looking at several specific messes, and trying to come up
with solutions that will enable us to say to authors, "if you use
one of these programs, we can save your keystrokes and formatting
for typesetting." If nothing else, it appears that TeX could
serve as a common demoninator between front and back ends. Maybe
we're wrong about TeX's typographic capabilities and it provides
a sane backend. Maybe there are simple PC or Mac front ends that
offer TeX compatibility, or TeX export capabilities.
 
I'm open to any suggestion, and certainly won't mind being shown
wrong about any of what I think I know in the preceding
paragraphs.
 
 
ari davidow
ari@well.sf.ca.us
 
"If there were a computer for the rest of us, it would know how to
work in the languages other than English that the rest of us speak."