Changing Fonts

Font families

The letters a through z, in both upper and lower case, will normally be displayed in an italic font, to show that they are variables. They can be changed to one of the following eight font families:

	`\mathrm{AbcD}`	Roman
	`\mathit{AbcD}`	Italic
	`\mathbf{AbcD}`	Bold
	`\mathfr{AbcD}`	Fraktur
	`\mathsf{AbcD}`	Sans Serif
	`\mathtt{AbcD}`	Typewriter
	`\mathbb{ABCD}`	Blackboard Bold
	`\mathcal{ABCD}`	Calligraphic

The calligraphic and blackboard bold fonts contain only capital letters; any lower case letters inside between the braces will be displayed as the usual italic characters.

The WebTeX Examples include more examples of these different fonts.

Changing the size of fonts

The point size of the characters inside a WebEQ applet is determined by the applet's size parameter. The size parameter sets the base font size. However, given a base font size, WebTeX uses two additional smaller font sizes. Most characters are drawn in the base font size. Subscripts are smaller, and subscripts of subscripts are smaller yet. The smaller sizes are also used for fractions, indices, and similar situations.

WebEQ chooses between these three sizes based on each character's place in the formula. You may, however, force WebEQ to use another size with the commands \textsize{}, \scriptsize{}, and \scriptscriptsize{}. For example, you could keep the exponent of x-squared from getting smaller by using x^{\textsize{2}}

Display style vs. Text style

WebEQ uses two formatting styles for displaying mathematical symbols. The text style is used when the expression is part of a sentence. In this style, the formulas are kept as vertically compact as possible. For example, the limits of an integral are placed to the right of the integral symbol to prevent the integral from being too tall, and the numerator and denominator of a fraction are set in a smaller font. When preparing a source file for the Publisher, formulas enclosed in $ ... $ will appear in text style.

The display style is used for an expression that is set out from the surrounding text centered on its own line. An integral in this style will have its limits above and below the integral symbol, and so on. The Publisher will display expressions enclosed in \[ ... \]. This is similar to TeX and LaTeX. In TeX, displayed equations are indicated by $$ ... $$ and in LaTeX by \[ ... \].

When working directly with a WebEQ applet, the default style is the text style. To change to display style, enclose the expression in the eq parameter within the braces of the \displaystyle{} command.

Note that the commands \displaystyle and \textstyle in WebEQ are not identical to the corresponding commands in TeX and LaTeX. The TeX commands \displaystyle and \textstyle, together with the similar commands \scriptstyle and \scriptscriptstyle, control both the size of symbols and the style in which things like limits and fractions are presented. WebTeX splits these two functions between the size commands (\textsize, \scriptsize, and \scriptscriptsize) and the formatting style commands (\displaystyle and \textstyle).

The WebTeX Examples include an example showing the difference between display style and text style.

Text boxes

Sometimes it is necessary to insert some text in a mathematical expression, particularly when creating functions with multiple domains. Text may be included by putting it in a text box with the command

	\text{Put text here}

Text inside the braces will be shown in an upright Roman font. Spaces inside the braces will be used, so be sure to put a space at the beginning and end of the text string.

Mathematical symbols may be placed within the text box by using dollar-signs, $ .... $ , as in TeX. Note that this means you can't use the '$' character to display a dollar sign. To use a dollar sign within a text box, you will need to "escape" it:

	\text{Here is a \$ within a text box.}

It is also necessary to escape the percent sign '%' within a text box.

The WebTeX Examples include an example of the use of text boxes.