Mathematical Powers and how to type them

There's subscript for molecules, too.

Another way to do it, and for any symbol, is to go to:

System Preferences > International > Input Menu
Check the "Character Palette" to "On"
And also check "show input menu in menu bar" at the bottom

A new menubar icon appears in the menubar, mine is a British flag, the flag i think changes depending on your location.

Click on this menubar button and select "show character palette" and go select your symbol from a list of folders and lists.

This works with every text field (eg Text Edit, Pages, Word, Keynote... even this Safari MR text field... as seen below)

✔✭☼¥₰∏∆⨊⦿⧓∛√⎝⎬‰₂⁵⁹

itchster said:

Hi

Im typing up a math's assignment for well a math's course

But I'm having trouble showing squared and cubed numbers properly in pages, you know the numbers with a little 2 (for squared numbers) or a little 3 (for cubed numbers) and so on.

I was wondering if anybody knew how to type them properly or have I hit a dead end in this?

thanks

Itchster

Click to expand...

There's no apostrophe in maths, just so you know. What kind of assignment are you doing that requires using Pages?

Try watching the Apple Quick Tip of the Week podcasts. I remember they did something about special symbols and such. All podcasts are free, so yea...

if you take anymore math courses that require typing up assignments you should try learning LaTex using a program called TeXShop (or similar). It has a learning curve, but is great for math and producing large documents (ie: thesis).

A side note, why do you folks over there say "for a math's course" and we "say for a math course"? I had a British roommate in college and he never had a good answer for me.

rdp5008 said:

A side note, why do you folks over there say "for a math's course" and we "say for a math course"? I had a British roommate in college and he never had a good answer for me.

Click to expand...

Personally, I think we Americans are just lazy. "Maths" is far harder to say than "math". The original word is "mathematics", so it actually makes somewhat more sense to say "maths".

You can use Grapher to type in textbook-style math expressions. Then copy and paste them into Pages. I prefer this method when the expression I want to enter is more than just a few powers and roots.

mogzieee said:

Another way to do it, and for any symbol, is to go to:

System Preferences > International > Input Menu
Check the "Character Palette" to "On"
And also check "show input menu in menu bar" at the bottom

Click to expand...

Regular option keystrokes will deliver quite a few characters.

Shift + Option + 9 = · (multiplication)
Option + W = ∑
Option + V = √ (superscript a number right before it for cube roots and higher roots)
Option + B = ∫
Option + 0 = º
Shift + Option + 8 = °
Option + / = ÷
Option + = = ≠
Shift + Option + = = ±
Option + X = ≈
Shift + Option + , = ≤
Shift + Option + . = ≥
Option + 5 = ∞
Option + - = – (minus)
Option + ; = …
Option + D = ∂
Option + J = ∆

I find them easier than using the Character Palette (unless I need something not in the above).

Why not use carat notation?

2^2, 2^3, 2^4, etc.

ChrisBrightwell said:

Why not use carat notation?

2^2, 2^3, 2^4, etc.

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I at least consider it not as elegant as proper superscript notation. It's also harder to read than superscripts, if you know what I mean.

itchster said:

I considered that method but dismissed it because I'm not sure everybody would understand its meaning

Click to expand...

Anybody whos used any scientific or graphing calculator* would understand it.

Alternatively you could put a note: "'x^y' means x raised to the power of y."

* Well, most of them (some use textbook notation too).

iMacmatician said:

Anybody whos used any scientific or graphing calculator* would understand it.

...

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Many scientific calculators do not treat superscripts like BASIC program code. They handle them properly.

Never mind, I was thinking of the two-line display calculators. (In fact not all of them use "^," some use "yx" with x as a superscript.)

You really, really, REALLY want to learn to use Latex for proper maths papers. Trust me, the output looks great and it is actually pretty easy to use. It took me about 45 minutes to get a decent looking document together from scratch the first time I used it.

Download here. You need the package called MacTeX-20071201.dmg.

Thanks a lot guys really useful. just spent half an hour trying to figure it out myself.