| TechNote #127: |
Last modified:
02/02/2009 |
iWork 09 default MathType equations have non-italic variables
The information in this document applies to:
- MathType 6.x (Macintosh)
- MathType 5.x (Macintosh)
|
- Macintosh OS X 10.4 to Current
- iWork 09 (Pages, Keynote, Numbers)
|
Issue:
When using the menu command Insert > MathType Equation, from
within Pages and Keynote, MathType opens with a default place-holder equation;
E = mc2
This equation is set with 12 point Times and variables are
missing the italic attribute. These settings are preserved for new equations.
The settings can be changed on a per use basis but they will not remain even if
the option to "save for new equations" is selected. When opening MathType from
Numbers, MathType opens with a blank place-holder equation. Even though the
place-holder seems to be empty, it still sets the font, size and style for new
equations.
Reason:
These default place-holder equations are actually saved equations that fix
the properties for font, size and style, that are used by the iWork 09
application to open MathType. And since this causes MathType to load saved
equations, the "save for new equations" mechanism doesn't apply.
Solution:
We recommend saving default equations that contain the font, font size, and
font attribute settings that are appropriate for your work. You can save
multiple files if you wish, but note that each file, when used, must have the
correct file name and must be placed inside the application's package contents
as detailed below. Since opening MathType from Numbers actually opens MathType
with a blank place-holder equation that contains font and size information,
these instructions include all three iWork 09 applications (Pages, Keynote,
Numbers).
Pages:
- Go to your Applications folder/iWork 09 and find the application
icon for Pages. Control-click the application icon and from the context
menu choose "Show package contents"
- From there navigate to Contents/Resources/
- Locate the file named default_equation.pict.
- Delete this file.
- Launch MathType from the Finder.
- From the Style Menu choose Define.
- In the resulting dialog, choose Times (or your preferred font) from
the Primary Font drop-down menu.
- Be sure to include a check next to "Italic Variables" and "Italic
lower-case Greek."
- Click OK.
- From the Size Menu choose Define.
- Set the font size for Full to 12 points.
- Click OK.
- From the File menu choose Save-as.
- Save the file using the Pict Format and name it
default_equation.pict.
- Place this saved pict file into the folder noted in item 2 above.
Note: The steps above note suggested settings for font and font size.
You can use whatever settings you wish if that's more appropriate to
your work. Or, you can create multiple equations each containing
different settings. To use any of those you must be sure that it's named
default_equation.pict and placed in the resources under the Pages
Package contents.
Keynote:
- Go to your Applications folder/iWork 09 and find the application
icon for Keynote. Control-click the application icon and from the
context menu choose "Show package contents"
- From there navigate to Contents/Resources/
- Locate the file named default_equation.pict.
- Delete this file.
- Launch MathType from the Finder.
- From the Style Menu choose Define.
- In the resulting dialog, choose the font you normally use for slides
from the Primary Font drop-down menu (For scientific documents that
include math we suggest Times).
- Be sure to include a check next to "Italic Variables" and "Italic
lower-case Greek."
- Click OK.
- From the Size Menu choose Define.
- Set the font size for Full to match the font size used on your
slides.
- Click OK.
- From the File menu choose Save-as.
- Save the file using the Pict Format and name it
default_equation.pict.
- Place this saved pict file into the folder noted in item 2 above.
Note: The steps above note suggested settings for font and font size.
You can use whatever settings you wish if that's more appropriate to
your work. Or, you can create multiple equations each containing
different settings. To use any of those you must be sure that it's named
default_equation.pict and placed in the resources under the Pages
Package contents.
Numbers:
- Go to your Applications folder/iWork 09/ and locate the application
icon for Pages. Control-click the application icon and from the context
menu choose "Show package contents"
- From there navigate to Contents/Resources/
- Locate the file named empty_equation.pict.
- Delete this file.
- Launch MathType from the Finder.
- From the Style Menu choose Define.
- In the resulting dialog, choose Helvetica Neue (or your preferred
font) from the Primary Font drop-down menu.
- Be sure to include a check next to "Italic Variables" and "Italic
lower-case Greek."
- Click OK.
- From the Size Menu choose Define.
- Set the font size for Full to 10 points.
- Click OK.
- From the File menu choose Save-as.
- Save the file using the Pict Format and name it empty_equation.pict.
- Place this saved pict file into the folder noted in item 2 above.
Note: The steps above note suggested settings for font and font size.
You can use whatever settings you wish if that's more appropriate to
your work. Or, you can create multiple equations each containing
different settings. To use any of those you must be sure that it's named
default_equation.pict and placed in the resources under the Pages
Package contents.
After creating and saving the pict files as detailed above, open any of the
iWork Applications and from the Insert Menu choose MathType Equation. This will
open MathType with an empty workspace and the font, font size and font
attributes will be those that were created and saved to the pict file. You may
now proceed with creating your math expressions as you would normally.
|