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How do I insert equations in Keynote slide?

wwooden

wwooden

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 26, 2004
2,030
189
Burlington, VT
I am making a presentation for one of my classes and I need to insert equations into Keynote. The type of equations I need are one's that use theta's, delta's, lots of greek symbols, and they have to be in variable form with stuff on both sides of the equal sign. I can't find a way to do this. I've tried creating them with Word then cutting and pasting, but they don't show up. Anyone able to do this or have an idea?

I am using the latest Keynote version and office Mac X.

P.S., I thought about using PowerPoint, but everyone will be using that so I want have my presentation stand out, so I am going to use Keynote.
 
If all else fails you could take a screenshot from word (Apple+Shift+4) and drag the resulting file into Keynote.

Or even simpler. Take a screenshot to the clipboard with (Apple+Ctrl+Shift+4) and paste it into Keynote.
 
Are they too sophisticated to simply use the "Symbol" font to create them within Keynote? You could set the font to Symbol, then use the Keyboard Viewer (which you can get to, among other ways, via System Preferences...->International->Input Menu->"Show input menu in menu bar", then select the Input Menu menulet and choose "Show Keyboard Viewer" - surely, there's a simpler way...).
 
Well, both the simplest and most complicated way is to use the Latex Equation editor.

Latex Equation Editor

If you've never used TeX before, it can be confusing to get it all set up, but the websites explain it pretty well. And the output it gives is very nice. If you're planning to use it alot, it is worth the effort.

But like the previous post said, you should also be able to use MS Word's equation editor (which may need to be installed from the disc, my copy of MS 2004 didn't install it by default). And I don't think you'll even need to take a screen shot, copy-paste should work fine.

-Tim
 
My first suggestion would be using the veritable TextEdit application and playing around with the different font options until you get it the way you want it, then send it over to Keynote. I've never tried this myself, but it seems like it should work.
 
wwooden said:
I am making a presentation for one of my classes and I need to insert equations into Keynote. The type of equations I need are one's that use theta's, delta's, lots of greek symbols, and they have to be in variable form with stuff on both sides of the equal sign. I can't find a way to do this. I've tried creating them with Word then cutting and pasting, but they don't show up. Anyone able to do this or have an idea?

I am using the latest Keynote version and office Mac X.

P.S., I thought about using PowerPoint, but everyone will be using that so I want have my presentation stand out, so I am going to use Keynote.
Click to expand...
You can buy MathEQ, MathType, or MathMagic Personal Edition.
 
Do you have Microsoft Office 2004? If so, you can try using the Equation Editor program that comes with it. You mentioned that you tried making equations in Word -- Equation Editor is a stand-alone program, so you may have better success with it.

You can find it at:
Applications / Microsoft Office 2004 / Office / Equation Editor
 
Good ideas everyone

I use equation editor all the time in Word when I write lab reports, but when I try to copy and paste them into keynote, it pastes a blank box. I think the quickest and simplest will be to simply take a screen shot of word and paste that image. Thanks for all the suggestion, I think I will try some of the programs too....when I have the time and energy.
 
I second the post by tjmcardl that latex equations are the eventual way to go. I currently prefer Equation Service, rather than LaTeX Equation Editor, but Equation Editor is definitely an app I'm going to keep my eye on as it develops. There is a little bit of initial effort to get everything working, but the output looks so much better than equations done in Word or Power Point, and I've never had font issues when moving to another computer like I see on so many Power Point presentations.

In fact once I learned to use LaTeX, I ditched Word completely and switched to using LaTeX with a text editor.

crackpip
 
hello there,

I think I have a simple solution for both inserting symbols into Keynote presentations, and for adding Equation Editor equations to Keynote:

1. Try holding the alt (option) key and experiment with the symbols you automatically get while typing on the keyboard. It works here too (alt+d =∂, for example). You can also get more results by holding the alt+shift keys while typing (alt+shift+d=Í). Hope this helps!

2. For pasting Equation Editor formulae: After you are done with the Equation Editor, simply copy the formula in Word, then (while still in Word) go to Edit -> paste special and choose (paste as picture). You can then copy the picture into Keynote and resize it according (it appears as black text with a white background)

Thanks!:apple:
 
MathMagic equations with transparent background

You can try MathMagic Personal Edition to drag&drop or copy&paste equations into Keynote window.

Those inserted equations have transparen background so it work well with your slides if they have gradient background or some background patterns.

You can Copy it back to MathMagic window to re-edit later.
 
One can just use Grapher application located in /Applications/Utilities . You can write most of the equations there, then copy and paste them to your presentation.
 
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