An Easy Way to Write Equations


There are two tools that might help you make equations in LaTeX. One is an official program, supported by athena, called Maple. The other is unsupported, written by one of the consultants, Krishna `Shamu' Sethuraman. Both programs allow for designing an equation visually, and then outputting it in LaTeX format.

To let maple do your equations, type:

add maple ; maple &
That will bring up a window. Type your equation in, just like in a computer program, and end the line with a semicolon (;). See if the equation that appears is what you'd really like. If it is, then type
latex(");
You can also type:
latex('your equation');
For example:

> latex('int(y^3*ln(y)*dy,y)');
\int \!y^{3}\ln (y){\it dy}{dy}

> 'int(y^3*ln(y)*dy,y)';
		 /
		|   3
		|  y  ln(y) dy dy
		|
	       /

> latex('int(y^3*ln(y)*dy,y)');
\int \!y^{3}\ln (y){\it dy}{dy}

The second program, convert-eq-to-tex, converts eq output to LaTeX form. eq is one of the andrew-suite programs (like EZ). After you get your equation looking as you'd like it to save it to a file. Then, at the athena% prompt type:
attach consult
Load your file into emacs, and there type:
M-x load-file /mit/consult/elisp/convert.elc
That will load the appropriate program. Move the cursor to the beginning of the equations (it will look like a mess), and type:
M-x convert-eq-to-tex
And that should do the job -- and leave the LaTeX equation. NOTE: This program doesn't work if your equation has above or below components..