Entering equations

Equation types

Aurora understands three different types of equations: inline, display, and numbered display. Inline equations flow with the text and fit within a single line of a paragraph. Display equations take a whole paragraph to themselves and are typically centered. Numbered display equations behave just like the regular display equations, but also include a number on the right margin to make the equation easy to refer to. Here is how all these types might look like in a typical document:

(excerpt from the “Remarques diverses sur l’équation de Fredholm”
by H.Poincaré, published in Acta Mathematica on September 12, 1909)

Inserting equations

To insert a new equation into your document, select one of the “Insert” commands from the Aurora toolbar or menu and enter the LaTeX description of the formula in the window that appears.

For example, suppose you are typing the example above and come upon defining :

Select the “Insert equation” command (or hold <Ctrl> and tap the semicolon <;> twice for the same effect) to bring up Aurora:

The hatched rectangle means that Aurora has nothing to display so far since the formula is effectively empty. If you are familiar with LaTeX, you will recognize that Aurora initialized the inline math mode for you and placed the input cursor appropriately. All that is left now is typing the formula itself and pressing “Refresh”:

Since everything looks fine, you can dismiss Aurora and return to the document.

Note: Virtually every function of Aurora is accessible using the keyboard alone. For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, see the page on Aurora’s keyboard shortcuts in Word.

Editing equations

The easiest way to open an equation for editing is double-clicking it. If the equation is too small for this to be convenient, position the cursor close to the equation you want to edit and use one of the “Edit” buttons on the right to open it.

For example, if the cursor is positioned as below:

pressing opens while pressing opens .