Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!rtp1
From: rtp1@tank.uchicago.edu (raymond thomas pierrehumbert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: MSWord4 eqns stink
Keywords: Word4 equations
Message-ID: <7748@tank.uchicago.edu>
Date: 21 Feb 90 22:18:14 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 27

I started using Word some time ago basically because it was the only 
word processor with a built in equation facility.  I don't like
using the DA's because you have to switch around for editing,
and do something different for "display" eqns vs. equations 
embedded in the text.
   But..
   Equation handling in Word STINKS and Microsoft doesn't seem to have
made the slightest effort to improve things.  Their software group
deserves some kind of genius of stupidity award for coming up with a
markup language which is even more obscure than TeX, but still 
produces amateurish output.  For example, to get a simple fraction
like 1/(x**2 + y**2) (but properly formatted to look pretty, you
type /f(1,x^2 + y^2) , where the caret represents the Mac superscript
key sequence.  Not too bad.  But the output is horrible.  The bottom of
the 1 runs right into the fraction bar, and there is an ugly gap
above the denominator.  Sometimes you can detect this on screen and
tweak it, but often you don't notice until you print. So much for
WYSIWYG.
    I am really jealous of the beauty of TeX output.  I don't really
want to write everything in TeX; having to use a previewer to see
equations is bush, and tables are a nightmare.  I like to see what I'm
writing when I'm writing it.  But when it comes to embedding an 
equation, Microsoft should be able to do as well as TeX, since the
algorithms are all published.  I hear Expressionist has a TeX interface.
Any comments?  Does anybody have any way to make Word behave better?
Please reply by email, as I can't keep up with comp.sys.mac
.