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Typing Mathematical Symbols in Microsoft Word

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I frequently have to place small mathematical expressions into the text of documents that I write for work. This is not easy in Microsoft Word. You need to access a variety of menus to apply subscripts or superscripts, or to insert Greek symbols.

I have discovered a neat trick for making math easier to type in Microsoft Word. You can use the autocorrect function to replace an unformatted expression with a formatted one. I use the unit inverse femtobarn frequently. I know that is hard to believe, but it is true. I can now type fb-1 and have fb-1 appear. Other examples are typing -> and have appear → or typing +/- and having ± appear.

First write the expression and format it correctly. Such as fb-1. Highlight the expression and go to the tools menu. Choose autocorrect options. You would see fb-1 in the box. Click on the formatted text button, and it will change to fb-1. Now go the box to the left of fb-1 and type in fb-1. Click add and OK. The original fb-1 may have turned into fb-1 . I am not sure why it does that, but if you type fb-1 it will correctly turn into fb-1.

The text you type does not have to be identical to the text that appears. I type K_s and it appears as Ks. The same for B_s making Bs.

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