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Re: [Phys-l] Typesetting Physics Equations




Thanks John -- this advice is *really* helpful.

Just a couple of questions for you...

1. I've noticed in some of your web pages the equations are a bit hard to read (e.g. column vectors that span many lines and have 'perforated' brackets etc.). Is that an example of the output you're talking about?

2. On a slight tangent, how do you get your mathematical symbols to appear in your emails (nobody else on the list seems to do that)?

Cheers

Derek

Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:43:22 -0700
From: jsd@av8n.com
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Typesetting Physics Equations

On 08/10/2011 03:55 PM, Derek McKenzie wrote:

I'm just wondering what the best options are nowadays for
professionally typsetting equation-rich physics lecture notes and
books.

Do people still use Latex,

I use LaTeX ... in particular pdflatex. I'm quite happy with it.
I've typeset well over 1000 equations with it.

Also, what about formatting mathematical equations for web pages?

I use HeVeA.

Due primarily to the limitations of HTML itself (and secondarily due
to limitations of HeVeA) the ability of HeVeA to typeset equations is
not quite as exalted as LaTeX, but 90% of ordinary equations come out
just fine with no fussing, and the rest can be made OK if not beautiful
with a little bit of fussing.

Specifically, I have never had to use an image to display an equation.

I'm sure you can think of lots of things that cannot be typeset in
HTML, but I've never found anything that was physically relevant that
could not be re-expressed in a way that was typesettable and at least
as understandable.

==============

Many of my documents are HTML only, but more than a few are available
both as PDF and HTML. It is important for me that both outputs are
generated from the same source. There is no way that I'm going to
maintain two versions of the source. I have a toolchain that generates
both versions automatically.

I use inkscape to prepare original diagrams. It is not quite as
powerful as Adobe Illustrator, but it is good enough, and a whole lot
cheaper, i.e. free.

My main goal is for really crisp professional looking notes, so if
there is a steep learning curve involved I'm ok with that.

I learned LaTeX so long ago that I cannot even remember what the
learning curve was like.

I've long since gotten to the point where I don't need to think about
it. Most equations I can typeset as fast as I can type. I can
typeset a long calculation /faster/ than I could write it out by
hand, because I can cut-and-paste many of the sub-expressions.

==================

I strongly recommend starting with LaTeX and HeVeA. In the unlikely
event that you decide you don't like it, you can always take the
HTML output of HeVeA and import it into some other tool. The
converse is unlikely to be possible.
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