Comprehensive overview of equations in Word

Math and technical equations can be inserted into a word document. Harnessing the full potential of the Word Equation Object can help writing complicated and preety equations not just easy but also fun.

On this page

Microsoft Word, the bread and butter for most students. It’s a ubiquotous software for academic and technical writings. It is well received for its ease of use and it’s seemingly endless functionality. On a relatively unpopular side of Word lies its equation editor. While it may be inferior to $L$ in fine-tuning of document formatting and math display functionalities, it surely is above average. We’ll skim over the intermediate–advanced features of Words Equation Object (commonly known as Math Zone).

Overview

A math zone can be created in any location by the shortcut Alt + =. By default the zone is set to ‘professional’—equations are represented in expanded and symbolic form $12 = \frac{x^{2}}{3}$ . Pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + = will insert a linear math zone; useful for inline equations $12 = x^2 / 3$ .

The Equation Object accepts UnicodeMath as a linear format for input of math equations into the math zone. While very similar to $L$ and use of similar control words, it has several syntax differences such as use of () instead of {} for grouping. Using the linear input format through only keyboard instead of the GUI helps to make the writing process much streamlined, rapid and efficient.

Symbols

In UnicodeMath most of the mathematical operators, symbols and Greek alphabets can be entered by the use of control words starting with \.

Note: Most control words such as the symbols below, will require you to enter a space ␣ after it inorder to ‘autocorrect’ it to corresponding symbol/character.

Greek letters

Code	Symbol	Code	Symbol
\alpha	$α$	\Alpha	$A$
\beta	$β$	\Beta	$B$
\gamma	$γ$	\Gamma	$Γ$
\delta	$δ$	\Delta	$Δ$
\epsilon	$ϵ$	\Epsilon	$E$
\zeta	$ζ$	\Zeta	$Z$
\eta	$η$	\Eta	$H$
\theta	$θ$	\Theta	$Θ$
\iota	$ι$	\Iota	$I$
\kappa	$κ$	\Kappa	$K$
\lambda	$λ$	\Lambda	$Λ$
\mu	$μ$	\Mu	$M$
\nu	$ν$	\Nu	$N$
\xi	$ξ$	\Xi	$Ξ$
\omicron	$ο$	\Omicron	$O$
\pi	$π$	\Pi	$Π$
\rho	$ρ$	\Rho	$P$
\sigma	$σ$	\Sigma	$Σ$
\tau	$τ$	\Tau	$T$
\upsilon	$υ$	\Upsilon	$Υ$
\phi	$ϕ$	\Phi	$Φ$
\chi	$χ$	\Chi	$X$
\psi	$ψ$	\Psi	$Ψ$
\omega	$ω$	\Omega	$Ω$

Full list of symbols

Code	Symbol	Code	Symbol	Code	Symbol
aleph	ℵ	iiint	∭	prec	≺
amalg	∐	iint	∬	preceq	≼
angle	∠	Im	ℑ	prime	′
aoint	∳	imath	ı	prod	∏
approx	≈	in	∈	propto	∝
ast	∗	inc	∆	qdrt	√
asymp	≍	infty	∞	rangle	⟩
because	∵	int	∫	ratio	∶
beth	ℶ	iota	ι	rbrace	}
bigcap	⋂	jj	ⅉ	rbrack	]
bigcup	⋃	jmath	ȷ	rceil	⌉
bigodot	⨀	ket	⟩	rddots	⋰
bigoplus	⨁	langle	⟨	Re	ℜ
bigotimes	⨂	lbrace	{	rect	▭
bigsqcup	⨄	lbrack	[	rfloor	⌋
biguplus	⨃	lceil	⌈	Rightarrow	⇒
bigvee	⋁	ldiv	∕	rightarrow	→
bigwedge	⋀	ldots	…	rightharpoondown	⇁
bowtie	⋈	le	≤	rightharpoonup	⇀
bra	⟨	Leftarrow	⇐	sdiv	⁄
bullet	∙	leftarrow	←	searrow	↙
cap	∩	leftharpoondown	↽	setminus	∖
cbrt	∙	leftharpoonup	↼	sim	∼
cdot	⋅	Leftrightarrow	⇔	simeq	≃
cdots	⋯	leftrightarrow	↔	spadesuit	♠
circ	∘	leq	≤	sqcap	⊓
clubsuit	♣	lfloor	⌊	sqcup	⊔
coint	∲	ll	≪	sqrt	√
cong	≅	Longleftarrow	⟸	sqsubseteq	⊑
cup	∪	longleftarrow	⟵	sqsuperseteq	⊒
daleth	ℸ	Longleftrightarrow	⟺	star	⋆
Dd	ⅅ	longleftrightarrow	⟷	subset	⊂
dd	ⅆ	Longrightarrow	⟹	subseteq	⊆
ddddot	⃜	longrightarrow	⟶	succ	≻
dddot	⃛	mapsto	↦	succeq	≽
ddot	̈	mid	∣	sum	∑
ddots	⋱	models	⊨	superset	⊃
degree	°	mp	∓	superseteq	⊇
diamond	⋄	ndiv	⊘	swarrow	↘
diamondsuit	♢	ne	≠	therefore	∴
div	÷	nearrow	↗	times	×
dot	̇	neq	≠	to	→
doteq	≐	ni	∋	underbar	▁
dots	…	norm	‖	underbrace	⏟
Downarrow	⇓	nu	ν	underparen	⏝
downarrow	↓	nwarrow	↖	Uparrow	⇑
ee	ⅇ	odot	⊙	uparrow	↑
ell	ℓ	oiiint	∰	Updownarrow	⇕
emptyset	∅	oiint	∯	updownarrow	↕
eqno	#	oint	∮	uplus	⊎
equiv	≡	ominus	⊖	varepsilon	ε
exists	∃	oplus	⊕	varphi	Φ
forall	∀	oslash	⊘	varpi	ϖ
ge	≥	otimes	⊗	varrho	ϱ
geq	≥	over	/	varsigma	σ
gets	←	overbar	¯	vartheta	ϑ
gg	≫	overbrace	⏞	vbar	│
gimel	ℷ	overparen	⏜	vdots	⋮
hbar	ℏ	parallel	∥	vee	∨
heartsuit	♡	partial	∂	Vert	‖
hookleftarrow	↩	pm	±	vert	\|
hookrightarrow	↪	pppprime	⁗	wedge	∧
ii	ⅈ	ppprime	‴	wp	℘
iiiint	⨌	pprime	″	wr	≀

Further more symbols can be added through entering unicode code.

Input Unicode character

Pressing Alt + X after any unicode hexcode will replace it with its corresponding character. 2A78 + Alt + X will output $⩸$

Note: Unicode characters can also be added outside of math zone, using this method.

For a list of hexadecimal code for all available math unicode symbols go here.

Escaping characters

Special symbols such as /, #, ", ^, _, [, (, { and autocorrected control words can be inserted by escaping with a starting backslash \. Unfortunately, to enter a literal backslash(\) use \setminus or a hacky way of using "". Using \\ won't work.

Styling

Text styles

Code	Style	Remarks
\boldA	$A$	Bold
\doubleA	$A$	Double stroked
\frakturA	$A$
\scriptA	$A$	Script/Caligraphy
\ssA	$A$	Sans serif
\ttA	$A$	Typewriter

Accents

Code	Style	Code	Style
\hat	$\hat{a}$	\dddot	$\overset{⃛}{a}$
\check	$\overset{ˇ}{a}$	\ddddot	$\overset{⃜}{a}$
\tilde	$\tilde{a}$	\bar	$\bar{a}$
\acute	$\overset{´}{a}$	\Bar	$\bar{\bar{a}}$
\grave	$\overset{‘}{a}$	\vec	$\vec{a}$
\breve	$\overset{˘}{a}$	\hvec	$\overset{⇀}{a}$
\dot	$\dot{a}$	\tvec	$\overset{\leftrightarrow}{a}$
\ddot	$\ddot{a}$	\prime	$a^{'}$

Writing texts

All text inside the math zone are italicised and will be autocorrected(substituted) to proper symbols. To prevent this and include text inside math equations enlose them with "⟨text⟩" will preserve the text and display as non-slanted text.

The output fraction is 2/3

$T h e o u t p u t f r a c t i o n i s \frac{2}{3}$

"The output fraction is 2/3"

$The output fraction is 2/3$

Enclosures

\rect, \overline or \overbar, and \underbar can be used to style whole expressions.

\rect(\sigma=\sqrt((\sum (X-X\bar)^2)/N))

$σ = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (X - \bar{X})^{2}}{N}}$

((A\cup B)\bar)=U-(A\cup B)

$(\overset{―}{A \cup B}) = U - (A \cup B)$

"Press"\rect(\vphantom(A)"ALT")+\rect(\vphantom(A)"=")" to insert a math zone"

$Press ALT + = to insert a math zone$

Spacing and invisible characters

Arbitrary spaces or negative spaces can be added to the equations.

Spacing

Code	Spacing
\zwsp	0 em
\hairsp	1/18 em
\thinsp	3/18 em
\medsp	4/18 em
\thicksp	5/18 em
\vthicksp	6/18 em
\ensp	9/18 em
\emsp	1 em
\nbsp	space width

`\hphantom` and `\vphantom`

Other than these, \hphantom(⟨character⟩) and \vphantom(⟨character⟩) is used to add a zero-width horizontal or vertical space in the equation block. This space is equal to the width/height of the ⟨character⟩. These are especially useful in cases where the braces and/or enclosures are not stretched sufficiently.

{\vphantom(a/b)a}
{\hphantom(a)a\hphantom(a)}

$\begin{array}{r} {a} {a} \end{array}$

"Ans: "\underbar(\hphantom(aaaaaaaa))
"Ans: "\rect(\hphantom(aaaaaaaa) \vphantom(A))

$Ans: \underset{―}{} Ans:$

You can use \phantom(⟨character⟩) for both vertical and horizontal spacing.

\sigma = \sqrt((\sum(x-x\bar)^2)/N)

\sigma = \sqrt(\phantom((\sum(x-x\bar)^2)/N))

$σ = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x - \bar{x})^{2}}{N}} σ = \sqrt{}$

`\hsmash` and `\smash`

These commands can be used to change any ⟨character⟩ to a zero-width/height character.

\hsmash is used to cram in integrand a little inside by making only π from 2π zero-width.

\int_0^2\pi f(x)

\int_0^\hsmash 2\pi f(x)

\int_0^2\hsmash \pi f(x)

$\begin{aligned} Too far & Too close Just Enough \\ \int_{0}^{2 π} f (x) & \int_{0}^{2 π}f(x) \int_{0}^{2 π}f(x) \end{aligned}$

\smash can make zero-height character that can be used to reduce vertical negative space. Control word for Å (212B) doesn't exist, you can:

Enter the exact character by unicode 212B (Preferred)
Create a makeshift symbol using \vphantom and \smash

"A" \above \circ

\vphantom(a) \smash("A") \above \circ

"Å"

$\begin{aligned} Too far Just Enough Unicode \\ \overset{\circ}{A} \overset{\circ}{A} Å \end{aligned}$

Writing multiline expressions

You can use \cases() or \eqarray() to create multiline equations.

\eqarray(5&x-2&y=&-9@3&x+4&y=&5)

$\begin{aligned} 5 x - 2 y & =-9 \\ 3 x + 4 y & =5 \end{aligned}$

f(x)={\cases(&kx^2&" for "x>12@&k(8-x)^2&" for "x\le12)\close

$f (x) = {\begin{cases} k x^{2} & for x > 12 \\ k (8 - x)^{2} & for x \leq 12 \end{cases}$

As you can see & acts to align the sequential term of top and bottom equations, @ signifies a line break. \close is required to enclose the equation block without entering the closing brace.

Another similar case would be the use of \atop.

a\atop b = c\atop d

$\binom{a}{b} = \binom{c}{d}$

Writing matrices

\matrix will do the trick here. You will need to provide brackets/parenthesis around the matrix yourself as they are optional. This is quite similar to writing a multiline equation. \pmatrix can be used to have a matrix enclosed in parenthesis without the opening/closing brackets ().

[\matrix(a&b@c&d)]

$[\begin{matrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{matrix}]$

Equation numbering and tags

Simply adding # will make everything after it as a tag.

a^2=b^2+c^2-2bc cosA #"[Cosine Law]"

cosA=(b^2+c^2-a^2)/2bc #(2.1)

$\begin{matrix} [Cosine Law] & a^{2} = b^{2} + c^{2} - 2 b c \cos A \end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix} (2.1) & \cos A = \frac{b^{2} + c^{2} - a^{2}}{2 b c} \end{matrix}$

Equations for chemistry

Words Equation object is rather not suitable for displaying chemical reactions. However, with some extra “fillers” and control words for spaces, required level of aesthetics can be achieved. It is suitable to have symbols upright, which can be tideous and messy.

"Fe"_(2)"O"_(3(s)) \below("Iron(III) oxide")

$\underset{Iron(III) oxide}{{Fe}_{2} O_{3 (s)}}$

2"H"_2(g) + "O"_2(g) → \above(\emsp \Delta, "Pt" \emsp) 2"H"_2"O"_((l))

$2 H_{2 (g)} + O_{2 (g)} \overset{Δ, Pt}{\to} 2 H_{2} O_{(l)}$

"Hg"^(2+) → \above(\emsp "I"^- \emsp) "HgI"_2 → \above(\emsp "I"^- \emsp) ["Hg"^("II")"I"_4]^(2-)

${Hg}^{2 +} \overset{I^{-}}{\to} {HgI}_{2} \overset{I^{-}}{\to} [{Hg}^{II} I_{4}]^{2 -}$

The \above and \below keyword places the symbol/expression of the right over/under the symbol/expression to its left. The → symbol only stretches to fit the contents over/under it. Hence, we add invisible spacing character \emsp of size 1em to increase the width of the content.

Resources

UnicodeMath [PDF], Nearly Plain Text Encoding of Mathematics
Math in Office, articles by Murray Sargent