User Guide

Chapter 3: Basic Concepts

The equations in the first row below show four different insertion point

positions, and the four pictures in the second row show the result of typing an m

into the expression in each case:

Moving the Insertion Point

As described previously, you can use the TAB key to move the insertion point

through all of an equation’s slots. Holding down the S

HIFT key moves the

insertion point in the reverse direction. You can also use the arrow keys for

moving the insertion point more precisely.

The rules for using the arrow keys are somewhat tedious to describe (and to

read, no doubt) — it’s easier to experiment with a couple of equations to

understand the behavior. Here’s a quick guide to how they work.

Roughly speaking, pressing the L

EFT ARROW key moves the insertion point one

character to the left, and R

IGHT ARROW moves one character to the right. If the

next character is a template, the insertion point moves into the template’s first

slot. If there are no more characters in a template slot to move over, the insertion

point will move out of the template.

If you hold down the C

TRL+SHIFT key combination while pressing the arrow

keys, the insertion point will move over templates; it will not move into a

template’s first slot.

The U

P ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys move the insertion point up and down

between lines or template slots. The up and down directions are generally

determined by the physical location of each slot, but when templates are nested

within templates, the template hierarchy may take precedence, and not every

slot may be passed through.

The H

OME key moves the insertion point to the beginning of the current slot, the

ND key moves it to the end. The PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys scroll the

MathType window up and down respectively, but do not actually move the

insertion point.