MathType from DesignScience is probably the foremost equation program available today -- it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office programs including PowerPoint.
Bob Mathews is Director of Training for Design Science. A former military pilot, Bob came to Design Science in 1999 after teaching high school mathematics for several years. He has been using Microsoft Office since version 2. Bob and his wife Sandie live near San Antonio in central Texas. In this conversation, Bob discusses MathType and PowerPoint.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Design Science and MathType.
Bob: This year is the company's 20th year in operation. Next April, we will celebrate the release of our first product, MathType. Both Design Science and our product line have grown tremendously over the last 20 years. We now offer 6 products, 3 of which are provided at no charge to the consumer. All of our products are related to math, science, and engineering typesetting -- whether the document's final form is the printed page, a projected presentation, or a web page.
Geetesh: How is MathType placed in the world of PowerPoint?
Bob: When you install MathType, it detects PowerPoint on your system, and installs an icon onto the PowerPoint toolbar. When you're ready to insert a MathType expression on the slide, you click the icon. MathType opens in a separate window, and you create the expression in this window. There is a link from MathType to PowerPoint, so when you close the MathType window, the equation is inserted onto the slide. You can edit the equation by double-clicking it, which opens it in MathType.
Many, if not most, of our customers who use MathType in PowerPoint also use it in Word. Clearly the size of the font you'd use in PowerPoint will be larger than what you're using in Word, and the font face may be different as well. MathType gives you an easy way to save different preference files so you can switch easily from one font & style combination to another. You can also set the color of your equations to be exactly the same as the color you're using for your PowerPoint text. If you want to focus attention on part of an equation, you can use a different color for that part of the equation.
Most of us have formulas, expressions, and other special symbols & constructs we use often. MathType gives you an easy way to customize the toolbar so these commonly-used items are readily available. If you want to change the keyboard shortcuts, you can do that too.
We have a free 30-day evaluation of MathType available at our web site. The evaluation version loses many of its features after 30 days, but is usable indefinitely in MathType Lite mode, giving you the ability to continue to use and edit presentations you've created during the evaluation period.
