Manual page for eqn(1)
eqn, neqn, checkeq - typeset mathematics test
SYNOPSIS
eqn
[
-dxy
]
[
-fn
]
[
-pn
]
[
-sn
]
[
file
] ...
neqn
[
file
] ...
checkeq
[
file
] ...
DESCRIPTION
eqn
and
neqn
are language processors to assist in
describing equations.
eqn
is a preprocessor for
troff.1
and is intended for devices that can print
troff's
output.
neqn
is a preprocessor for
nroff.1
and is intended for use with terminals. Usage is almost always:
-
example% eqn file ... | troff
example% neqn file ... | nroff
If no
files
are specified,
eqn
and
neqn
read from the standard input.
A line beginning with
.EQ
marks the start of an equation;
the end of an equation is marked by a line beginning with
.EN.
Neither of these lines is altered, so they may be defined in macro packages
to get centering, numbering, etc. It is also possible to set two characters
as ``delimiters''; subsequent text between delimiters is also treated as
eqn
input.
checkeq
reports missing or unbalanced delimiters and
.EQ/.EN
pairs.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
- -dxy
-
Set equation delimiters set to characters
x
and
y
with the command-line argument. The more common way to do this is with
delim xy
between
.EQ
and
.EN.
The left and right delimiters may be identical.
Delimiters are turned off by
delim off
appearing in the text. All text
that is neither between delimiters nor between
.EQ
and
.EN
is passed through untouched.
- -fn
-
Change font to
n
globally in the document.
The font can also be changed globally in the body of the document
by using the
gfont n
directive, where
n
is the font specification.
- -pn
-
Reduce subscripts and superscripts by
n
point sizes from the
previous size. In the absence of the
-p
option, subscripts and
superscripts are reduced by 3 point sizes from the previous size.
- -sn
-
Change point size to
n
globally in the document.
The point size can also be changed globally in the body of the document
by using the
gsize n
directive, where
n
is the point size.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
- file
-
The nroff or troff file processed by
eqn
or
neqn.
EQN LANGUAGE
The nroff version of this description depicts the output of
neqn
to the terminal screen exactly as
neqn
is able to display it. To see an accurate depiction of the output
the printed version of this page should be viewed.
Tokens within
eqn
are separated by
braces, double quotes, tildes, circumflexes,
SPACE,
TAB,
or
NEWLINE
characters. Braces {} are used for grouping;
generally speaking, anywhere a single character like
x
could appear, a
complicated construction enclosed in braces may be used instead.
Tilde (~) represents a full
SPACE
in the output, circumflex (^) half as much.
- Subscripts and superscripts:
-
These are produced with the keywords
sub
and
sup.
-
- x sub i makes $x sub i$
-
- a sub i sup 2 produces $a sub i sup 2$
-
- e sup {x sup 2 + y sup 2} gives $e sup {x sup 2 + y sup 2}$
-
- Fractions:
-
Fractions are made with
over.
-
- a over b yields $a over b$
-
- Square Roots:
-
These are made with
sqrt
-
- 1 over sqrt {ax sup 2 +bx+c} results in
-
$1 over sqrt {ax sup 2 +bx+c}$
- Limits:
-
The keywords
from
and
to
introduce lower and upper
limits on arbitrary things:
-
- lim from {n
inf } sum from 0 to n x sub i makes
-
$lim from {n-> inf} sum from 0 to n x sub i$
- Brackets and Braces:
-
Left and right brackets, braces, etc., of the right height are made with
left
and
right.
-
- left [ x sup 2 + y sup 2 over alpha right ] ~=~1 produces
-
$left [ x sup 2 + y sup 2 over alpha right ] ~=~1$.
The
right
clause is optional. Legal characters after
left
and
right
are braces, brackets, bars,
c
and
f
for ceiling and floor,
and "" for nothing at all (useful for a right-side-only bracket).
- Vertical piles:
-
Vertical piles of things are made with
pile,
lpile,
cpile,
and
rpile.
-
- pile {a above b above c} produces
-
$pile {a above b above c}$
-
There can be an arbitrary number of elements in a pile.
lpile
left-justifies,
pile
and
cpile
center, with different vertical spacing, and
rpile
right justifies.
- Matrices:
-
Matrices are made with
matrix.
-
- matrix { lcol { x sub i above y sub 2 } ccol { 1 above 2 } }
-
produces
$matrix { lcol { x sub i above y sub 2 } ccol { 1 above 2 } }$
-
In addition, there is
rcol
for a right-justified column.
- Diacritical marks:
-
Diacritical marks are made with
dot,
dotdot,
hat,
tilde,
bar,
vec,
dyad,
and
under.
-
- x dot = f(t) bar is
-
$x dot = f(t) bar$
- y dotdot bar ~=~ n under is
-
$y dotdot bar ~=~ n under$,
- x vec ~=~ y dyad is
-
$x vec ~=~ y dyad$.
- Sizes and Fonts:
-
Sizes and font can be changed with
size
n
or
size
±n,
roman,
italic,
bold,
and
font
n.
Size and fonts can be changed globally in a document by
gsize
n
and
gfont
n,
or by the command-line arguments
-sn
and
-fn.
- Successive display arguments:
-
Successive display arguments can be lined up. Place
mark
before the desired lineup point in the first equation; place
lineup
at the place that is to line up vertically in subsequent equations.
- Shorthands:
-
Shorthands may be defined or existing keywords redefined with
define:
-
- define thing % replacement %
-
Defines a new token called
thing
which will be replaced by
replacement
whenever it appears thereafter.
The
%
may be any character that does not occur in
replacement.
- Keywords and Shorthands:
-
Keywords like
sum
int
inf
and shorthands like
>=
and
!=
are recognized.
- Greek letters:
-
Greek letters are spelled out in the desired case, as in
alpha
or
GAMMA.
- Mathematical words:
-
Mathematical words like
sin, cos,
and
log
are made Roman automatically.
troff.1
four-character escapes like \(bu (•) can be used anywhere.
Strings enclosed in double quotes
"..."
are passed through untouched;
this permits keywords to be entered as text, and can be used to communicate
with
troff
when all else fails.
ATTRIBUTES
See
attributes.5
for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+-----------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+-----------------+
|Availability | SUNWdoc |
+---------------+-----------------+
SEE ALSO
nroff.1
tbl.1
troff.1
attributes.5
ms.5
BUGS
To embolden characters such as digits and parentheses, it
is necessary to quote them,
as in `bold "12.3"'.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© by Hans-Peter Bischof. All Rights Reserved (1997).
Last modified 07/October/97