Introduction to QuickMath

Transcription

1 Introduction to QuickMath QuickMath Authors April 2, 2018

2 Contents 1 Basic Editing System Requirements Editor Layout Insert, Navigate, Select, and Delete Math Symbols and Special Formats Keyboard Shortcuts Buttons Copy, Paste, and Undo Sharing and Saving L A TEX Code URL Export Image Export MathML ii

3 1 Basic Editing 1.1 System Requirements QuickMath supports the latest versions of all the major desktop browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE/Edge, as of spring For the best experience, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox. 1.2 Editor Layout Fig. 1.1 shows the layout of the editor. The equation display shows math equation. Upon opening the editor, the equation display will get the focus and have a blinking cursor in it, indicating it is ready to accept inputs. The latex code field is not editable and contains the latex code of the equation above. It will be updated automatically when the equation changes. The image and MathML toggles contain tools for exporting to images and MathML codes. The symbols toolbox contains common math symbols, which can be inserted into the equation, either by clicking or using keyboard shortcuts. 1.3 Insert, Navigate, Select, and Delete First, make sure the equation display is focused. You will see a blinking cursor on the equation when it is focused. If you don t see the cursor, click the equation 1

4 2 1. BASIC EDITING Figure 1.1: Editor Layout Equation Display Symbols Toolbox LaTeX Code Image Export Toggle MathML Export Toggle display to focus. When the equation display is focused, you can insert characters and numbers at the cursor just like what you would normally do. You can navigate with your arrow keys and Home and End keys. You can select by hold on the Shift key. And you can delete the selected content by pressing Del or Backspace. When nothing is selected, you can use the Backspace key to remove the previous editing group and use the Del key to remove the next editing group. Note that, currently, we do not support moving the cursor with your mouse. This involves modifying the details of the LaTeX rendering engine, and we are still working on it. 1.4 Math Symbols and Special Formats To insert a math symbol or start a math format, you can use the symbols toolbox on the left side of the editor. The most common symbols and formats are displayed and always accessible at the top. Other symbols and formats are divided into several categories, and we can see them by clicking the corresponding category link. You can insert a symbol or start a format by click on its button. For example, click the a b button will start the fraction environment, click Other and then will insert the symbol. You can also insert math symbols and start math formats using keyboard shortcuts. Section 2.1 will talk about this in detail.

5 2 Keyboard Shortcuts There are shortcuts in life, QuickMath is a proof. QuickMath authors 2.1 Buttons Most of the buttons, including those in the symbols toolbox, come with shortcuts. You can hover over a button to see its shortcut. For example, when you hover on the a b button and see Ctrl+F, that means you can press Ctrl F to insert fractions. For convenience, each button in the symbols toolbox has a letter at the bottom that hints its shortcut. Some of them require two-step keypress combinations. For example, Ctrl+G, A, for the Greek symbol α, which means pressing Ctrl G first, then release them and press A. 2.2 Copy, Paste, and Undo You can copy the selected part of the equation by pressing Ctrl C. If nothing is selected, QuickMath will copy the whole equation. You can paste the equation to the position of the cursor by pressing Ctrl V. If there is something selected, the content to paste will replace the selected part. And you can undo an action by pressing Ctrl Z. Note that on Mac OS, we use Cmd instead of Ctrl. 3

6 3 Sharing and Saving Share your smile with the world. It s a symbol of friendship and peace. Christie Brinkley 3.1 L A TEX Code QuickMath is based on L A TEX and always shows the L A TEX code of the equation right below it. L A TEX is also used internally whenever you copy or paste. Therefore, if the person you want to share with uses L A TEX often, you can simply copy and send the L A TEX code. L A TEX code is also a good way of saving the math in a human-readable format for later editing. 3.2 URL If the person you want to share with does not use L A TEX quite often, we recommend sharing by URL. You can simply copy the URL after finishing editing and send it to other people. And when they get the URL and open it in a browser, they will be able to see the rendered equation and make modifications if needed, without using any special L A TEX compilers or PDF viewers. Technically, whenever you change the equation, the URL of the page will change immediately to reflect the current version of the equation. The latex part of the URL will always contain the current L A TEX code encoded as a uniform resource identifier (URI) component. 4

7 3.3. EXPORT IMAGE Export Image QuickMath also supports export equations to images in PNG and SVG format. To export an image, you can open the Export Image toggle, change the size and format if needed, and click the Generate button. You can also do this by pressing Ctrl I on your keyboard. After the image is generated, you can right click on the image to copy or download it. You may also be able to drag the image to the place you want directly, as long as the target supports the drop feature. 3.4 Export MathML QuickMath can also output the equations in MathML format, which is required by some online content editors and blog platforms. To export into MathML, you can open the Export MathML toggle and click the Generate button. You can also do this by pressing Ctrl M on your keyboard. After the MathML code is generated, it will be automatically selected, so that you can copy and paste it into your desired place directly.