A Reference on Microsoft Word equation editor

28/06/2022 22:52

Enabling Math Autocorrect

In most versions of Microsoft Word, Math AutoCorrect is enabled by default. To ensure you can visit, File Menu → Options → Proofing → Autocorrect Options → Math AutoCorrect and ensure "Replace text as you type" is checked. These shortcuts work only inside the Equation Editor. However, to use it outside Equation Editor, “Use Math Autocorrect Rules outside of math regions“ should be checked.

Equation Editor Shortcut

The shortcut to get the equation editor is “Alt + =”, hold down the Alt key while pressing "=". Moreover, clicking on “Equations” under the “Insert” Tab will result in the same.

Space is an important part of the Math AutoCorrect shortcut. It invokes the conversion event which translates the typed equation into Mathematical Symbols/Operators. In this article, space is shown as <sp> for clarity.

Subscript & Superscript

The shortcut for subscript and superscript is _ and ^. Anything after _ or ^ will get converted into subscript or superscript respectively, after hitting space. To include space in subscript or superscript, group them in parenthesis or (). These grouping parentheses don’t appear after Math AutoCorrect. Grouping is also important as it distinguishes between a_i^2 and a_(i^2). To add pre-subscript or pre-superscript, use \zwsp along with _ and ^ sign.

A_circle<sp>	$A_{circle}$	r^2<sp>
A_(big circle)<sp>	$A_{big \ circle}$	H^(2 square)<sp>	$H^{2\; square}$
r^2_outer<sp>	$r^2_{outer}$	r^2_(outer circle)	$r^{2}_{outer\;circle}$
\zwsp<sp>_c<sp>		\zwsp<sp>^c<sp>R
\zwsp<sp>_c^d<sp>R		\zwsp<sp>_c^d<sp>_e^f<sp>

Greek letters

Greek letters have 24 alphabets. There are four distinct ways of typing the Greek alphabet in Microsoft Word. Of these, Math AutoCorrect method is the easiest to remember and the fastest of all four. This method of typing Greek letters is as easy as typing its spelling after \ (backslash). To get the lower case Greek Alphabet, type the name of Greek letter after \ in lower case, e.g. \alpha for \alpha, and for the upper use case type the name of Greek letter after \ in Title case, e.g. \Gamma for \Gamma.

Alpha	A	\Alpha	$\alpha$	\alpha
Beta	B	\Beta	$\beta$	\beta
Gamma	$\Gamma$	\Gamma	$\gamma$	\gamma
Delta	$\Delta$	\Delta	$\delta$	\delta
Epsilon	E	\Epsilon	$\epsilon$	\epsilon
Zeta	Z	\Zeta	$\zeta$	\zeta
Eta	H	\Eta	$\eta$	\eta
Theta	$\Theta$	\Theta	$\theta$	\theta
Iota	I	\Iota	$\iota$	\iota
Kappa	K	\Kappa	$\kappa$	\kappa
Lambda	$\Lambda$	\Lambda	$\lambda$	\lambda
Mu	M	\Mu	$\mu$	\mu
Nu	N	\Nu	$\nu$	\nu
Xi	$\Xi$	\Xi	$\xi$	\xi
Pi	$\Pi$	\Pi	$\pi$	\pi
Rho	P	\Rho	$\rho$	\rho
Sigma	$\Sigma$	\Sigma	$\sigma$	\sigma
Tau	T	\Tau	$\tau$	\tau
Upsilon	$\Upsilon$	\Upsilon	$\upsilon$	\upsilon
Phi	$\Phi$	\Phi	$\phi$	\phi
Chi	X	\Chi	$\chi$	\chi
Psi	$\Psi$	\Psi	$\psi$	\psi
Omega	$\Omega$	\Omega	$\omega$	\omega

Scientific and Mathematical Symbols

Equation editor shortcut for scientific and mathematical symbols like infinity, different arrows, operators (like partial, del, and nabla), conditional symbols, dot, cross, maps to, perpendicular, set symbols, for all, equivalent, congruent, angle, proportional, etc are given in the following table.

Infinity	∞	\infty	Hbar	ℏ	\hbar
Right Arrow	→	\rightarrow, ->	Left Arrow	←	\leftarrow
Up Arrow	↑	\uparrow	Down Arrow	↓	\downarrow
North-east Arrow	↗	\nearrow	North-west Arrow	↖	\nwarrow
South-east Arrow	↘	\searrow	South-west Arrow	↙	\swarrow
Left Right arrow	↔	\leftrightarrow	Up Down Arrow	↕	\updownarrow
Rightwards Double Arrow	⇒	\Rightarrow	Leftwards Double Arrow	⇐	\Leftarrow
Upwards Double Arrow	⇑	\Uparrow	Downwards Double Arrow	⇓	\Downarrow
Partial	∂	\partial	Nabla	∇	\nabla
Less Than Equal To	≤	\le	Greater Than Equal To	≥	\ge

Double Less Than	≪	\ll	Double Greater Than	≫	\gg
Times	𝑎 × 𝑏	a \times b	Tensor Product or O Times	𝑓(𝑡) ⊗ 𝑔(𝑡)	f(t)\otimes g(t)
Dot	𝑎 ⋅ 𝑏	a\cdot b	O Dot	𝑎 ⊙ 𝑏	a\odot b
O Plus	𝑥 ⊕ y	x\oplus y	O Minus	𝑥 ⊖ 𝑦	a\ominus y
Maps To	𝑎 ↦	a\mapsto b	Right Arrow with Hook	↪	\hookrightarrow
Dots	𝑎 … 𝑏	a\dots b	Center dots	𝑎 ⋯ 𝑏	a\cdots b
Perpendicular	𝑎 ⊥ 𝑏	a \bot b		𝑎 ⊤ 𝑏	a \top b
Intersection	𝐴⋂𝐵	A\bigcap B	Union	𝐴⋃𝐵	A \bigcup B
Big Square Cup	𝐴⨆𝐵	A\bigsqcup B	Big U with Plus	𝐴⨄𝐵	A \biguplus B
Star	𝑎 ⋆ 𝑏	a \star b	For All	∀	\forall

In	∈	\in	Exists	∃	\exists
Big Wedge	⋀	\bigwedge	Big Ve	⋁	\bigvee
Equiv	≡	\equiv	Congruent	≅	\cong
Not Equal To	≠	\ne	Approximately Equal	≈	\approx
Similar	∼	\sim	Similar To	≃	\simeq
Natural Joint of Bowtie	⋈	\bowtie	Box	□	\box
Subset	⊂	\subset	Empty Set	∅	\emptyset
Therefore	∴	\therefore	Because	∵	\because
Plus or minus	±	\pm or +-	Minus or plus	∓	\mp
Angle	∠	\angle	Proportional To	∝	\proto

Degree C

22 °C

22 \degc

Accent

The accent-like bars are used for various reasons, e.g. dot for denoting derivative. We can easily achieve these using the following word shortcuts.

Bar	$\overline{x}$	x\bar<sp>
Double bar	$\overline{\overline{x}}$	x\Bar<sp>
Under bar	$\underline{x}$	x\ubar<sp>
Double under bar	$\underline{\underline{x}}$	x\uBar<sp>
Acute	$\acute{x}$	x\acute<sp>
Grave	$\grave{x}$	x\grave<sp>
Vector	$\vec{x}$	x\vec<sp>
Hat	$\hat{x}$	x\hat<sp>
Left-right arrow	$\overleftrightarrow{x}$	x\tvec<sp>
Left harpoon	$\overset{\leftharpoonup}{x}$	x\lhvec<sp>
Right harpoon	$\overset{\rightharpoonup}{x}$	x\rhvec<sp>
Dot	$\dot{x}$	x\dot<sp>
Double dot	$\ddot{x}$	x\ddot<sp>
Triple dot	$\dddot{x}$	x\dddot<sp>
Four dot	$\overset{....}{x}$	x\ddddot<sp>
Breve	$\breve{x}$	x\breve<sp>
Check	$\check{x}$	x\check<sp>
Tilde	$\tilde{x}$	x\tilde<sp>
Left arrow	$\overleftarrow{x}$	x\lvec<sp>

Grouping and brackets

The equation editor causes brackets such as [], {}, and () to grow and fit the size of expression within them. However, the parenthesis used for grouping is not displayed in the final formatted expression. Albeit, the parenthesis which is required to be displayed, must be doubled. One for grouping which will vanish in the final formatted expression, and the other for display. Escape sequence (\ followed by the desired bracket is used to prevent the bracket from being reformatted.

$\frac{a}{y}$	x/y	/ is used for fraction
$\left[\frac{x}{y} \right ]$	[x/y]	[] bracket automatically expands to adjust the fraction
$\left{\frac{x}{y} \right}$	{x/y}
$\left(\frac{x}{y} \right )$	(x/y)	Parentheses are displayed as they are not used for grouping
$\frac{a}{p+q}$	a/(p+q)	Parentheses used for grouping (denominator here) are not displayed
$\frac{a}{\left(p+q \right )}$	a/((p+q))	Parentheses used for grouping (denominator here) is not displayed
	[ a\atop b \close y
$\left\|\frac{p\|q\|r}{c+d}\right\|$	\|(p\|q\|r)/(c+d)\|	Again parentheses used for grouping are not displayed
$\|a\|b\left\|\frac{x}{a+b}\right\|$	\|a\|b\|x/(a+b)	Grouping parentheses not displayed
	\norm a \norm

Roots

Equation editor shortcut for square root, cube root and higher roots are \sqrt(), \cbrt() and \sqrt(n&x) respectively.

$\sqrt{x}$	\sqrt(x)<sp>
$\sqrt[3]{x+1}$	\cbrt(x+1)<sp>
$\sqrt[n]{x + 1}$	\sqrt(n&x)<sp>

Matrices

The basic equation editor shortcut for creating an empty matrix of custom size is \matrix(@@&&&)<sp>. Matrix size decided by number of @ (for rows) and & (for columns). The count of rows and columns is one less than the count of @ and & typed in the equation.

\matrix(@@&)
\pmatrix(@@&) or (\matrix(@@&)
\Vmatrix(@@&)
[\matrix(1&2&3@4&5&6@7&8&9)]
\pmatrix(1&2@3&4@5&6)

Piece wise function

There are two ways to insert a piece-wise function by using the Equation Editor shortcut. First one uses \cases() method while the second one uses \matrix(). In both cases, desired piecewise functions are entered inside the parenthesis.

Like the matrices, @ is used as a row separator. To get only the opening curly braces ‘{‘ which automatically extends the height of the piecewise function, use \close in place of closing ‘}’.

f(x) = {\cases(x,x>=0@-x,x<0)\close		@ is used as row separator and \close is required to ensure opening { expands vertically to cover all cases
f(x) = {\matrix(x & x>=0@-x & x<0)\close		Similar to above, & is used as column separator
f(x) = {\matrix(x & x>=0@-x & x<0)	Piecewise function without \close	Without \close, opening '{' doesn't expands

Integral, Sum and Product

Shortcuts for an integral sign, sum, and product signs are \int, \sum, and \prod. You can use _ and ^ for inserting text below and above signs, respectively.

\int<sp>f(x)dx	$\int{f(x)dx}$
\int_x=0^1<sp>f(x)dx	$\int_{x=0}^{1}f(x)dx$	_ for lower limit and ^ for upper limit
\iint<sp>f(x)dx	$\iint{f(x)dx}$	\iint for double integral
\iint\below(S)<sp>ds	$\iint\limits_Sds$	use \below to put text below symbol
\iiint\above(V)<sp><sp>dV	$\overset{V}{\iiint}dV$	use \above to put text above symbol
\oint<sp>f(x)dx	$\oint f(x)dx$	\oint for cyclic integral, similarly use \oiint for cyclic double Sum, integral
\sum_(i=1)^n<sp>A_i<sp>	$\sum_{i=1}^n A_i$	\sum_(i=1)^n<sp>A_i<sp>\sum for sum symbol and _ & ^ sign for getting text below and above sum. Parenthesis can be used for grouping text with spaces
\prod_(n=0)^N<sp>x^n<sp>	$\prod_{n=0}^N x^n$	Similar to sum.