Tip of the Week Thursday: Using Equation Editor 3.0

Here's a question I get a lot: "I have Equation Editor 3.0 in my version of Word and I used it. Why am I getting the comment that I am not using it properly?"

The answer to this query lies in the fact that there is a difference between "Insert Equation" in Word and "Insert Equation Editor" object. Lots of people don't know that, which is why I'm here with the weekly tip!

This is NOT what you should be doing:

Rather, use Equation Editor this way:

First, go to "Insert" on the Task Ribbon.

Second, choose Object. Once you're in that window, choose "Microsoft Equation 3.0"

Hit "OK" and then you're good to go. 

MathType Tips: How to Remove Italics

Just a quick Thursday tip for all of your writers who use MathType, which I happen to know is most of you...

You may have noticed that we often tell you not to italicize units in MathType or we ask you kindly to add a space between the unit and the value, but maybe you're not sure how to un-italicize them because you're stuck in "Math" mode. Well, here's how to easily fix that issue. No more italicized units or weird formatting problems.

Italicized units look like this screenshot, and you'll confuse students if you randomly italicize something like "feet", "meters", or "inches" for no good reason.

 To fix this, just double-click on the Mathtype and the editing box will open. Then highlight the right side of the equation (you want that L' variable to remain italicized, so leave that little guy alone). From there, go to "Style". You'll see that "Math" is selected by default. This automatically assumes you're typing equations so it will italicize everything and will not allow you to input spaces at all. Instead, click "Text" style.

Voila! This screenshot below is exactly what you want to see:

Then when you exit out of the box, make sure to hit "Save". Your answer will now look proper and lovely and have the correct italics or non-italics. 

Now, on to the next solution... 

How To Box Your Answers in Word

Many of you have asked me or Ryan how you go about boxing answers in Word without MathType. In MathType, it's simple. You just highlight the text you need, and you click the box option, like so:

But if you don't use MathType (because you use Word's Equation Editor 3.0 or because your text isn't equation-oriented), there is another option for you in Microsoft Word. To box the answer, you just highlight the final answer and click “Outside Borders” in the Paragraph menu.You should not box with a text box. This is way easier anyway, so I'm not so sure why you'd even want to! :-)