Question

Hidden secrets of the equation editor…

Answer 1

I'm currently converting our equation editor to CoffeeScript ( http://coffeescript.org/ ), which is reminding me of some of the features that are built into it.

Shortcuts
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Some of the advanced users probably type LaTeX directly into the reply box, but the equation editor actually provides some small aides even if you are proficient in LaTeX. In particular, for most macros, it removes the requirement of using the \. It also shortens the requirements for integrals with limits and provides some shortcuts for the symbols for Real, Natural, Integer, and Rational sets.

So next time you pull up the equation editor, try typing this:

int_0^3 2x^2 dx ~~~~ forall x in Real

Hope you're pleasantly surprised :)

Select and Go
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Also notably, you can at any point select any text you've already typed and hit the equation button to see it in the equation editor. This will also convert anything like the above into real LaTeX.

Question Marks and Tab
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When you're in the actual equation editor and you click a menu item for a command that takes parameters, say \(\prod\), those parameters have ? set as placeholders. The first placeholder will always be selected, but you can also use the tab and shift-tab keys to move between the question marks until you delete them.

Answer 2

That would explain how people such as @myininaya and @jim_thompson5910 would post much faster than me.

Answer 3

Interesting. Am I not suppose to get the notification that @hero mentioned me?

Answer 4

Also when I go to notifications, it doesn't show he mentioned me.

Answer 5

Oh and cool @shadowfiend
lol

Answer 6

Oh, that's what you meant. I was scratching my head for a second there trying to understand what you wrote.

Answer 7

I think you still have me blocked, right?

Answer 8

Or is that just binary residue?

Answer 9

lol. no.

Answer 10

How many times have I pinged you and you never knew it? You probably don't even know.

Answer 11

No to the first question,

Answer 12

lol. Ignore everything I said. I had the notifications for mentions set to never.

Answer 13

cool trick :D

Answer 14

the "lateces" changed fonts...is this the influence of that coffee? or is this all in my head and im the one under the influence of something :P

Answer 15

int_0^3 2x^2 dx

Answer 16

try inputting that in the equations editor

Answer 17

\[\int\limits_0^3 2x^2 dx \]

See the thingmajiggers I circled.

Answer 18

thingymajiggers*
I knew I misspelled something.

Answer 19

Looking forward to this.

Answer 20

Looking forward to? These are all features that are already in the system :)

Answer 21

I'm confused about coffee script. It looks like something more for java than equation editor.

Answer 22

Notably, Java and JavaScript aren't the same thing. The equation editor is written in JavaScript, and we are porting that JS to CoffeeScript.

That's irrelevant for you as users, though. That just happens to be why I was trawling through the equation editor code and remembering the little tricks I'd built into it.