Getting Started Guide

Figure 260: Result of changing the base font size.
Formula layout
The most difficult part of using Math comes when writing complicated formulas. This
section provides some advice.
Brackets are your friends
Math knows nothing about order of operation. You must use brackets to state the
order of operations explicitly. Consider the following example.
Markup Result
2 over x + 1
2
x
1
2 over {x + 1}
2
x1
Equations over more than one line
Suppose you want to type an equation covering more than one line. For example:
x=3
y=1
Your first reaction would be to simply press the Enter key. However, if you press the
Enter key, though the markup goes to a new line, the resulting equation does not. You
must type the newline command explicitly. This is illustrated in the table below.
Markup Result
x = 3
y = 1
x=3 y=1
x = 3 newline
y = 1
x=3
y=1
How do I add limits to my sum/integral?
The sum and int commands can (optionally) take the parameters from and to. These
are used for lower and upper limits respectively. These parameters can be used singly
or together. Limits for integrals are usually treated as subscripts and superscripts.
262 Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.3