Math Guide

What is Math?
Math is OpenOffice.org (OOo)’s component for writing mathematical
equations. It is most commonly used as an equation editor for text
documents, but it can also be used with other types of documents or
stand-alone. When used inside Writer, the equation is treated as an
object inside the text document.
Note
The equation editor is for writing equations in symbolic form, as
in equation 1. If you want to evaluate a numeric value, see the
Calc Guide.
df  x
dx
=lnx tan
−1
x
2

(1)
Getting started
To insert an equation, go to Insert > Object > Formula.
The equation editor opens at the bottom of the screen, and the floating
Elements window (called “Selection” before Math 3.2) may appear. You
will also see a small box with a gray border in your document, where
the formula will be displayed, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Equation Editor, Elements window, and location of
resulting equation
4 OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide