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Tip You can drag and drop expressions, or even entire math regions, into placeholders in other expressions or into any blank space. If you’re trying to drop the expression into a placeholder, be sure to position the pointer carefully over the placeholder.

Deleting Parts of an Expression

If you want to remove part of an expression and replace it with what is currently on the Clipboard, do not use Cut because doing so puts the removed part on the Clipboard.

To delete part of an expression without placing it on the Clipboard:

1.Drag-select the part of the expression (in this case, the numerator) so that it is highlighted in reverse video.

2.Press [Delete] or [Backspace]. This removes the numerator and leaves behind a placeholder.

To recover the deleted part press [Ctrl] Z to Undo.

Note If you select an expression with the editing lines instead of drag-selecting as shown above, you must press [Backspace] or [Delete] twice to remove it.

Math Styles

You can use math styles to assign particular fonts, font sizes, font styles and effects, and colors to your math expressions.

Mathcad has predefined math styles that govern the default appearance of all the math in your worksheet, but you can define and apply additional styles.

Mathcad’s predefined math styles are:

•Variables: for all variables, letters, and operators in math regions.

•Constants: for all numbers in math regions.

•Math Text Font: for title and axes labels in graphs.

Editing Math Styles

To change Mathcad’s default style for all variables:

1.Click on a variable name in your worksheet.

2.Choose Equation from the Format menu. The style name “Variables” is selected.

3.Click “Modify” to change the font associated with the “Variables” style. You see a dialog box for changing fonts.

4.Any changes you make in the dialog box apply to all variables in your worksheet.

36 / Chapter 4 Working with Math

If you change the Variables style, you may also want to change the style used for numbers so that the two match.

1.Click on a number.

2.Choose Equation from the Format menu to see the Equation Format dialog box and select the style name “Constants.”

3.Follow the procedure given above for modifying the Variables style.

You can also use the Formatting toolbar to change the font, font size, or font style associated with a math style. For example, click on a variable, then click on the appropriate Formatting toolbar button to make variables bold, italic, or underlined or to specify the font or point size in the drop-down lists.

Note Changing font characteristics, particularly font sizes, may cause regions to overlap. You can separate overlapping regions by choosing Separate Regions from the Format menu.

To change the default color of all equations in your worksheet:

1.Choose Equation from the Format menu.

2.Select a color in the “Default Equation Color” drop-down list.

Applying Math Styles

The “Variables” and “Constants” styles govern the default appearance of all math in your worksheet. These two style names cannot be changed. You may, however, create and apply additional math styles.

To see what math style is currently assigned to a name or number, simply click on the name or number and look at the style window on the Formatting toolbar.

Alternatively, click the name or number and choose Equation from the Format menu. The math style appears in the drop-down list in the Equation Format dialog box.

You can apply a variety of math styles to:

•individual variable names in an expression, or

•individual numbers in a math expression (but not in computed results, which always display in the “Constants” style).

For example, you may want to show vectors in a bold, underlined font: 1. Choose Equation from the Format menu.

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2.Click the down arrow beside the name of the current math styles to see a drop-down list of available math styles.

3.Click on a math style name like “User 1” to select it. The name “User 1” should now appear in the “New Style Name” text box. Click in this text box and change the name to “Vectors.”

4.Click “Modify” to change this style to a bold, underlined font.

Now you have a math style called “Vectors” with the desired appearance.

Now rather than individually changing the font, font size, and font style for names of vectors, you can simply change the math style for all vectors.

Note All names, whether function names or variable names, are style sensitive. This means that x and x refer to different variables, and f(x) and f(x) refer to different functions. In deciding whether two variable names are the same, Mathcad actually checks math styles rather than fonts. To avoid using distinct variables that look identical, don’t create a math style with exactly the same font, size, and other characteristics as another math style.

Saving Math Styles

You can reuse math style information by saving a worksheet as a template. Choose Save As from the File menu and select “Mathcad XML Template (*.XMCT)” as the file type in the Save As dialog box.

To apply math style information to another worksheet, open your template from the File menu and copy the contents of the worksheet to the template. See “Worksheets and Templates” on page 61.