Math Guide
The OpenOffice.org Equation Editor

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separately.)CopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2005–2010 by its contributors as listed
in the section titled Authors. You may distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of either the GNU General Public License, version 3 orlater, or the Creative Commons Attribution License, version 3.0 or
later. All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate
owners.

Authors
Daniel Carrera
Agnes BelzuncePeter Kupfer
Ian Laurenson
Janet M. Swisher
Jean Hollis Weber
Michele Zarri

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Publication date and software version
Published 5 October 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.1.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
What is Math?..............................................................................4
Getting started.................................................................................... 4Entering a formula.......................................................................5
The Elements window.........................................................................5
Right-click (context) menu..................................................................7
Markup............................................................................................... 8
Greek characters................................................................................9
Customizations...........................................................................11
Formula editor as a floating window.................................................11
How can I make a formula bigger?...................................................12
Formula layout...........................................................................13
Brackets are your friends..................................................................13
Equations over more than one line...................................................13
How do I add limits to my sum/integral?..........................................13
Brackets with matrices look ugly!.....................................................14
How do I make a derivative?.............................................................15
How do I align my equations at the equals sign?..............................15
Numbering equations.................................................................16
Math commands - Reference......................................................18
Unary / binary operators...................................................................18
Relational operators.......................................................................... 19
Set operations................................................................................... 20
Functions.......................................................................................... 21
Operators.......................................................................................... 22
Attributes.......................................................................................... 23
Miscellaneous...................................................................................25
Brackets............................................................................................ 26
Formats............................................................................................. 27
Characters – Greek...........................................................................28
Characters – Special.........................................................................28

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

3

What is Math?
Math is OpenOffice.org (OOo)’s component for writing mathematicalequations. 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, asin equation 1. If you want to evaluate a numeric value, see theCalc Guide.

df  x−12=ln  x  tan  x dx(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

Entering a formula
The equation editor uses a markup language to represent formulas. For
example, %beta creates the Greek character beta (  ). This markup isdesigned to read similar to English whenever possible. For example, aaover b produces a fraction: b .
You can enter a formula in three ways:• Select a symbol from the Elements window.
• Right-click on the equation editor and select the symbol from thecontext menu.
• Type markup in the equation editor.
The context menu and the Elements window insert the markup
corresponding to a symbol. This provides a convenient way to learn the
OOo Math markup.
Note

Click on the document body to exit the formula editor.
Double-click on a formula to enter the formula editor again.

The Elements window
The simplest method for entering a formula is the Elements window,
shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2: Symbols are divided into categories
Note

In OOo Math before V3.2.0, the Elements window was called the
Selection window.

Entering a formula

5The Elements window is divided into two main parts.
• The top shows the symbol categories. Click on these to change
the list of symbols.
• The bottom shows the symbols available in the current category.
Tip

You can hide or show the Elements window with View >Elements.

Example 1: 5×4
For this example we will enter a simple formula: 5×4 . On the Elements
window (Figure 3):
1) Select the top-left button of the categories (top) section.
2) Click on the multiplication symbol.

Figure 3: Selecting the multiplication symbol
When you select the multiplication symbol on the Elements window,
two things happen:• The equation editor shows the markup: <?> times <?>• The body of the document shows a gray box like this: ×

6

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Figure 4: Result of selecting the multiplication symbol
The <?> symbols shown in Figure 4 are placeholders that you canreplace by other text, for example 5 and 4. The equation will update
automatically, and the result should resemble Figure 5.

Figure 5: Result of entering 5 and 4 next to the times operator

Tip

To keep the equation from updating automatically, select View
>AutoUpdate display. To update a formula manually, press F9or select View > Update.

Right-click (context) menu
Another way to access mathematical symbols is to right-click on theequation editor. This pops up the menu shown in Figure 6. The items inthis menu correspond exactly to those in the Elements window.

Entering a formula7

Figure 6: Right-click (context) menu

Markup
You can type the markup directly in the equation editor. For example,
you can type 5 times 4 to obtain 5×4 . If you know the markup, thiscan be the fastest way to enter a formula.
Tip

The formula markup resembles the way the formula reads in
English.

Below is a short list of common equations and their corresponding
markup.

8

Display

Command

Display

Command

a=b

a=b

a

sqrt {a}

a2

a^2

an

a_n

∫ f  x dx

int f(x) dx∑ ansum a_na≤ba <= b∞infinity

a×b

a times bx⋅yx cdot y

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Greek characters
Greek characters (  ,  ,  ,  , etc) are common in mathematicalformulas. These characters are not available in the Elements windowor the right-click menu. Fortunately, the markup for Greek characters
is simple: Type a % sign followed the name of the character, in English.
• To write a lowercase character, type the name of the character inlowercase.
• To write an uppercase character, type the name of the characterin uppercase.
A complete table of Greek characters is provided on page 28. See thetable below for some examples.
Lowercase

Uppercase%alpha %ALPHA 

A

%beta





%BETA



B

%gamma %GAMMA 



%psi

 

%PSI

 

%phi

 

%PHI

 

%theta 

%THETA Another way to enter Greek characters is by using the Symbols catalog
window. Choose Tools > Catalog. This window is shown in Figure 7.
Under Symbol set, select Greek and double-click on a Greek letterfrom the list. The markup name of the character is shown below the list
window.

Figure 7: Symbols catalog, used for entering Greek charactersand some special symbols
Entering a formula

9

Example 2:  ≃ 3.14159
For this example we will suppose that:• We want to enter the above formula (the value of pi rounded to 5
decimal places).
• We know the name of the Greek character (pi).
• But we do not know the markup associated with the ≃ symbol.
Step 1: Type % followed by the text pi. This displays the Greek
character  .
Step 2: Open the Elements window (View > Elements).
Step 3: The ≃ symbol is a relation, so we click on the Relations
button. If you hover the mouse over this button you see the tooltip
Relations (Figure 8).
Figure 9 shows the Selection window after clicking the Relations
button. The symbol we want is circled.

Figure 8: Tooltip indicates
the Relations button

Figure 9: After selecting
Relations

Step 4: Click on the a ≃ b symbol. The equation editor now shows themarkup %pi<?> simeq <?>.
Step 5: Delete the <?> text and add 3.14159 at the end of theequation. We end up with the markup %pi simeq 3.14159. The resultis shown in Figure 10.

10

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Figure 10. Final result

Customizations
Formula editor as a floating window
The formula editor can cover a large part of the Writer window. To turnthe formula editor into a floating window, do this:1) Hover the mouse over the editor frame, as shown in Figure 11.
2) Hold down the Control key and double-click.

Figure 11: Turning the formula editor into a floating window
Figure 12 shows the result. You can dock the floating window again byusing the same steps. Hold down the Control key and double-click thewindow frame.

Figure 12: Formula editor as a floating window
Customizations

11

How can I make a formula bigger?
This is one of the most common questions people ask about OOo Math.
The answer is simple, but not intuitive:1) Start the formula editor and choose Format > Font size.

Figure 13: Changing the font size for a formula2) Select a larger font size under Base size (top-most entry), as
shown in Figure 13.

Figure 14. Edit Base size (top) to make a formula bigger
The result of this change is illustrated in Figure 14.

Figure 15. Result of changing the base font size.
12

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Formula layout
The most difficult part of using OOo Math comes when writing
complicated formulas. This section provides some advice.

Brackets are your friends
OOo Math knows nothing about order of operation. You must use
brackets to state the order of operations explicitly. Consider thefollowing example.
MarkupResult
x + 1

2
1
x

2 over {x + 1}2x1

2 overEquations over more than one line
Suppose you want to type an equation covering more than one line. For
x=3
example: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, theresulting equation does not. You must type the newline command
explicitly. This is illustrated in the table below.
MarkupResult

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 fromand to. These are used for lower and upper limits respectively. These
parameters can be used singly or together. Limits for integrals areusually treated as subscripts and superscripts.
MarkupFormula layout

Result13

MarkupResultint from 0 to x f(t) dtor
int_0^x f(t) dt∫ f t dt or ∫ f t dt

int from Re f∫f

sum to infinity 2^{-n}

Note

x

x

0

0

ℜ

∞

∑ 2−n

For more details on integrals and sums, see page 22.

Brackets with matrices look ugly!
For background, we start with an overview of the matrix command.
MarkupResultmatrix { a # b ## c # d }

a b
c d

Note

Rows are separated by two #’s and entries within each row are
separated by one #.

The first problem people have with matrices is that brackets do notscale with the matrix:
Markup(matrix { a # b ## c # d }Result
)



a b

c d

OOo Math provides scalable brackets. That is, the brackets grow insize to match the size of their contents. Use the commands left( andright) to make scalable brackets.
Markup14

Resultright)

 
a b
c d

left(

matrix { a # b ## c # d }TipUse left[ and right] to obtain square brackets.

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

How do I make a derivative?
Making derivatives essentially comes down to one trick: Tell OOo it’s afraction.
In other words, you have to use the over command. Combine this witheither the letter d (for a total derivative) or the partial command (for apartial derivative) to achieve the effect of a derivative.
Note

Notice that we have to use braces (squiggly brackets) to makethe derivative.

MarkupResult{df} over {dx}dfdx{partial f} over {partial y}∂f∂y{partial^2 f} over {partial t^2}

∂2 f
∂ t2

How do I align my equations at the equals sign?
OOo Math does not have a command for aligning equations on aparticular character, but you can use a matrix to do this, as shown
below.
Markupmatrix{alignr x+y # {}={} # alignl 2 ##alignr x# {}={} # alignl 2-y}Resultx y = 2
x = 2− yThe empty braces around = are necessary because = is a binary
operator and thus needs an expression on each side.
You can reduce the spacing around = if you change the inter-column
spacing of the matrix:
1) With the equation editor open, choose Format > Spacing fromthe menu bar.

Formula layout

15

Figure 16: Changing spacing in a matrix formula2) In the Spacing dialog (Figure 16), click the Category button andselect Matrices in the drop-down menu.
3) Enter 0% for Column spacing and click OK.

Numbering equations
Equation numbering is one of OOo Math’s best hidden features. The
steps are simple, but obscure:1) Start a new line.
2) Type fn and then press F3.
The fn is replaced by a numbered formula:

E =mc

2

(2)

Now you can double-click on the formula to edit it. For example, hereis the Riemann Zeta function:
∞

1
z
n=1 n

 z = ∑(3)

You can reference an equation (“as shown in Equation (2)”) with thesesteps:
1) Choose Insert > Cross-reference from the menu bar.
2) On the Cross-references tab (Figure 17), under Type, select Text.
3) Under Selection, select the equation number.
4) Under Format, select Reference.
Click Insert.

16

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Done! If you later add more equations to the paper before thereferenced equation, all the equations will automatically renumber andthe cross-references will update.

Figure 17. Inserting a cross-reference to an equation number
Tip

To insert the equation number without parenthesis around it,choose Numbering instead of Reference under Format.

Numbering equations

17

Math commands - Reference
Unary / binary operators
Operation

Command

+sign

+1

1

–sign

–1

−1

+/– sign+–1±1–/+ sign–+1∓1

Boolean not

neg a

¬a

Addition +

a+b

ab

Dot producta cdot ba⋅bMultiplication (X)a times b

a×b

Multiplication (asterisk)

a*b

a∗b

Boolean ‘and’a and ba∧b

Subtraction (–)

a–b

a−b

Division (as a fraction)a over bab

Division (as an operator)

a div ba÷b

Division (with a slash)

a/b

a /b

Boolean ‘or’a or ba∨bConcatenationa circ b

a °b

18Display

OpenOffice.org 3 Math GuideRelational operators
Operation

CommandIs equala=b

a=b

Is not equala <> ba≠2

Approximately

a approx 2a≈2

Dividesa divides ba∣b

Does not dividea ndivides ba ∤bLess than

a<2

a2

Greater than

a>2

a2

Similar to or equala simeq ba≃bParallela parallel ba∥b

Orthogonal toa ortho ba⊥bLess than or equal toa leslant babGreater than or equal toa geslant bab

Similar toa sim ba~bCongruenta equiv ba≡bLess than or equal toa <= ba≤bGreater than or equal toa >= ba≥b

Proportionala prop ba∝b

Towarda toward bab

Arrow lefta dlarrow ba⇐bDouble arrow left and righta dlrarrow ba⇔b

Arrow righta drarrow ba⇒bMath commands - Reference

Display19

Set operations
Operation

CommandIs in

a in Ba ∈B

Is not ina notin B

a ∉B

Owns

A owns b

A∋b

Empty set

emptyset∅

Intersection

A intersection B

A∩B

Union

A union B

A∪B

Difference

A setminus B

A∖ B

Quotient

A slash B

A/ B

Aleph

aleph

ℵ

SubsetA subset B

A⊂B

Subset or equal to

A subseteq B

A⊆B

Superset

A supset B

A⊃B

Superset or equal to

A supseteq B

A⊇B

Not subset

A nsubset B

A⊄B

Not subset or equal

A nsubseteq B

A⊈B

Not superset

A nsupset B

A⊅B

Not superset or equal

A nsupseteq B

A⊉B

Set of natural numbers

setN

ℕ

Set of integers

setZ

ℤ

Set of rational numbers

setQ

ℚ

Set of real numbers

setR

ℝ

Set of complex numbers

setC

ℂ

20

Display

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Functions
Operation

Command

Exponential

func e^{a}ea

Natural logarithmln(a)ln a

Exponential function

exp(a)

exp aLogarithm

log(a)log a 

Power

a^{b}

ab

Sine

sin(a)sin aCosinecos(a)cos aTangenttan(a)tana Cotangentcot(a)

cot aSquare rootsqrt{a}aArcsinearcsin(a)arcsin a 

Arc cosine

arccos(a)arccosa Arctangent

arctan(a)arctan a

Arc cotangent

arccot(a)arccot anth root

nroot{a}{b}a bHyperbolic sinesinh(a)sinh aHyperbolic cosinecosh(a)cosh a 

Hyperbolic tangent

tanh(a)tanha 

Hyperbolic cotangentcoth(a)coth a

Absolute valueabs{a}∣ a∣

Arc hyperbolic sine

arsinh(a)arsinh a 

Arc hyperbolic cosine

arccosh(a)arcosh aArc hyperbolic tangent

arctanh(a)artanh aArc hyperbolic cotangent

arccoth(a)arcoth a

Factorialfact{a}a!

Math commands - Reference

Display21

Operators
All operators can be used with the limit functions (“from” and “to”).
Operation

Command

DisplayLimitlim{a}lim a

Sum

sum{a}

Productprod{a}Coproduct

coprod{a}

∑a
∏a
∐a
rt

Upper and lower bounds
shown with integral

int from {r_0} to {r_t} aIntegralint{a}

Double integral

iint{a}Triple integral

iiint{a}Lower bound shown withsummation symbol

sum from{3}bContour integral

lint aDouble curved integral

llint aTriple curved integral

lllint a∮a∯a∰aUpper bound shown withproduct symbol

prod to{3} r

∏r

22

∫a
r0

∫a
∬a
∭a
∑b
3

3

OpenOffice.org 3 Math GuideAttributes
Operation

Command

Display

Acute accent

acute aa

Grave accent

grave aa

Reverse circumflex

check aa

Breve

breve aa

Circlecircle aåVector arrow

vec a

a


Tilde

tilde aa

Circumflex

hat a

a

Line above

bar a

a


Dot

dot a

ȧ

Wide vector arrow

widevec abc

abc

Wide tilde

widetilde abcabc

Wide circumflex

widehat abc

abc

Double dot

ddot aäLine overoverline abc

abc

Line under

underline abc

abc

Line throughoverstrike abc

acb

Triple dot

dddot aaTransparent (useful to get aplaceholder of a given size)

phantom a

Bold fontbold aa

Italic font1

ital “a”aResize fontsize 16 qv

qv

Following item in sans serif font2

font sans qv

qv

Following item in serif font

font serif qv

qv

Following item in fixed font

font fixed qv

qv

1 Unquoted text that is not a command is considered to be a variable. Variables are, by
default, italicized.
2 There are three custom fonts: sans serif (without kicks), serifs (with kicks), and fixed(non-proportional). To change the actual fonts used for custom fonts and the fonts
used for variables (unquoted text), numbers and functions, use Format > Fonts.

Math commands - Reference

23

Operation

Command

Display

Make color of following text cyan3

color cyan qv

qv

Make color of following text yellow

color yellow qv

qv

Make color of following text whitecolor white qv

qv

Make color of following text green

color green qv

qv

Make color of following text blue

color blue qv

qv

Make color of following text redcolor red qv

qv

Make color green returns to default
color blackcolor green X qv

X qv

Brace items to change color of morethan one item

color green {X qv}

X qv

3 For all coloring, the color will apply only to the text immediately following thecommand until the next space is encountered. In order to have the color apply tomore characters, place the text you want in color in curly brackets.

24

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Miscellaneous
Operation

CommandInfinity

infinity∞

Partialpartial

∂

Nabla

nabla

∇

There exists

exists∃For all

forall

∀

H bar

hbar

ℏ

Lambda bar

lambdabarƛReal partreℜ

Imaginary partimℑ

Weierstrass p

wp℘

Left arrowleftarrowRight arrowrightarrowUp arrow

uparrowDown arrow

downarrow

Dots at bottom

dotslow

Dots at middle

dotsaxis⋯

Dots vertical

dotsvert⋮

Dots diagonal upward

dotsup⋰

Dots diagonal downward

dotsdown⋱

Math commands - Reference

Display25

Brackets
Operation

CommandRound Brackets

(a)

a

Square Brackets

[b]

[ b]

Double Square Brackets

ldbracket c rdbracket〚c〛Single line

lline a rline∣a∣Double line

ldline a rdline∥a∥Braceslbrace w rbrace{w}

Angle Brackets

langle d rangle〈d 〉Operator Brackets

langle a mline b rangle〈 a∣ b〉Group brackets (used forprogram control){a}aScalable round brackets(add the word “left” before
a left bracket and “right”
before a right bracket)

left ( stack{a # b # z}right )

Square brackets scalable(as above)left [ stack{ x # y} right ][]Double square brackets
scalableleft ldbracket c rightrdbracket〚 c〛Line scalable

left lline a right rline∣ a∣Double line scalable

left ldline d right rdline∥ d∥Brace scalable

left lbrace e right rbrace{ e}Angle bracket scalable

left langle f right rangle〈 f〉Operator brackets scalable

left langle g mline h right
rangle〈 g∣ h 〉Over brace scalable{The brace is above}
overbrace a

Under brace scalable{the brace isbelow}underbrace {f}26Display

a
b
z
x
y

a


The brace is above
thebraceis below
f

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Formats
Operation

Command

Left superscript

a lsup{b}Center superscript

a csup{b}aRight superscript

a^{b}

ab

Left subscript

a lsub{b}bCenter subscript

a csub{b}aRight subscript

a_{b}

ab

Align character to left (textis aligned center by default)

stack { Hello world # alignl(a) }Hello world
a

Align character to center

stack{Hello world #alignc(a)}Hello world
a

Align character to rightstack { Hello world #alignr(a)}Hello world
a

Vertical stack of 2

binom{a}{b}abVertical stack, more than 2

stack{a # b # z}abzMatrixmatrix{a # b ##
c#d}

Equations aligned at '='(using 'matrix')

matrix{a # "=" # alignl{b} ##{} # "=" # alignl{c+1}
}

a =b
=c

Equations aligned at '='(using 'phantom')stack{alignl{a} = b #alignl{phantom{a} = c+1}
}

a =b
=c

New line

asldkfjo newline sadkfj

asldkfjo
sadkfjSmall gap (grave)

stuff `stuff

stuff stuff

Large gap (tilde)

stuff~stuff

stuff stuff

Math commands - Reference

Display
b

a

b

a

b

a
c

b
d

27

Caution

In localized versions of Writer, the markup names of Greek andspecial characters are localized. If this document is not localized
to the same language, then the names below may not work for
input. You may still use the Symbol catalog (Figure 7) to selectthe desired character by its glyph. This will also display thecharacter's localized markup name.
Once entered, the characters will display properly in any
language.

Characters – Greek%ALPHA

A %BETA

B %GAMMA %EPSILON

E

%ZETA

Z

%ETA

H %THETA

 %IOTAIK%LAMBDA

 %MU

M %NU

N %XI

 %OMICRON O%PI

 %RHO

P %SIGMA

 %TAUT%PHI

 %CHI

X %PSI %OMEGA%alpha %beta%gamma%delta%varepsilon



%zeta



%eta



%iota



%kappa%lambda%xi



%omicron%pi

 %varpi%varrhoϱ%sigma

 %varsigma



%phi

 %varphi

 %chi

 %psi%DELTA%KAPPA%UPSILON%epsilon%theta%vartheta



%mu



%nu



 %rho%tau%upsilon %omegaCharacters – Special%and ∧%angle ∢%element ∈%identical ≡%infinite ∞%noelement ∉%notequal ≠%or ∨%perthousand %strictlygreaterthan ≫%strictlylessthan ≪%tendto 

28

OpenOffice.org 3 Math Guide

Indexright-click menu 7

Bbrackets (Math) 13
brackets commands (Math) 26

Ccharacters – special (Math) 28
characters – Greek (Math) 28

Dderivative markup (Math) 15

Eequation
inserting 4
numbering 16
equation editor 4
equation editor
brackets 13
derivative markup 15
Elements window 5
equations over more than one line 13
floating window 11
font size 12
formula layout 13
limits to sum/integral 13
markup 8
matrix markup 14

Math commands - ReferenceF
formats commands (Math) 27
formula editor
See: equation editor 11
formula layout 13
function commands (Math) 21

Llimits to sum/integral 13Mmathematical equations 4
mathematical markup 8mathematical symbols 5
matrix markup (Math) 14
miscellaneous commands (Math) 25

Nnumbering equations 16

Rrelational operator commands (Math) 19

Uunary / binary operator commands(Math) 1829