gmusgrave
Sep 13, 2011, 9:05 AM
Post #12 of 16
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I ned to type the symbol for a square and cubic and so on on internet and word How do I do it.
Also how to I type fractions?
. . . . . .
I am using www.algebrahelp.com to try to help a kid understand algebra and I need to show him how to put the equations in there and follow the reasonning. So fa so good but we need to enter fractions and cubic symbols and so far what we have done does not work...
On algebrahelp.com you cannot enter fractions in the form 1/2 or 2/3 into their online equation or expression calculators. You need to convert them to their decimal equivalents first. In other words, you enter 0.5 for 1/2, 0.667 for 2/3, or 0.75 for 3/4.
Similarly, you use the caret symbol (^) for exponents such as squares and cubes. This symbol is found above the number 6 at the top of the standard English keyboard (SHIFT-6). So, you enter x² as x^2, or y³ as y^3.
Note also that you enter an asterisk rather than an 'X' for multiplication. So that x times y becomes x*y. You can omit this for terms in parenthesis. In other words, in (x+1)(x-1) the multiplication of the two terms is assumed. Their site doesn't currently support division.
Outside of algebrahelp.com, and only on a PC (doesn't work on a Mac), you can easily type in squares, cubes, and the fractions 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4.
You do this by:
- hold down the ALT key;
- while keeping the ALT key down, enter a sequence of four numbers on the numeric keypad (the numbers across the top of the keyboard won't work);
- release the ALT key;
- the symbol will then be inserted at the cursor.
This same technique can be used for a variety of symbols including all of the accent marks you need for Spanish and many other languages (such as é, ñ, or ó).
The codes for the specific math symbols I mentioned are:
square - 0178 [looks like this: 3² = 9]
cube - 0179 [looks like this: 2³ = 8]
1/4 - 0188 [looks like this: ¼]
1/2 - 0189 [looks like this: ½]
3/4 - 0190 [looks like this: ¾]
The beauty of this technique is that it works in any Windows application including Word, your email client, and, as you can see, filling in a form on a web browser.
I have attached a cheat sheet PDF showing a list of the symbols available using this technique. After a while the Spanish accents become second nature, and you no longer think about the codes.
In general, as Rolly said, the best way to enter fractions is with a slash between the numerator and the denominator.
In WORD, the Insert menu has two additional tools: Symbol and Equation. The Symbol tool lets you insert symbols from various symbol, math, and standard fonts. For a standard font, it will do the same thing as my ALT key trick. The Equation tool lets you build fairly elaborate equations. These are not portable beyond WORD (although you can save them as a PDF).
Hope that helps,
Garry
Garry Musgrave
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Windows ALT Keycodes.1252.pdf
