Does Equation editor really treat radicals of any index as square root?

[dsurvivor]

I am wondering if there is a bug or something is wrong in our installation of FM10. In the examples below I used the command “Isolate term” from the equation editor/Functions/Other rewrites to find x. It seems that the FM10 equation editor treats radicals of different indices as square roots. Examples are shown below.

should be ;

should be;

should be ;

should be .

In my two computers, one under Windows XP SP3 and the other under Window 7 Home Basic 32 bits, the equation editor gives the same result.

Framemaker is a great publishing software. Its equation editor enabled me to minimize typographical errors in our math books. Thanks to its features that could simplify and solve equations without retyping them.

Would somebody point to me what went wrong -- a bug or an installation error? We have tons of equations in our project. We cannot afford to publish books full of errors in equations.

[AxialInfo]

Check to be sure you have the latest patch version of FM:

Updates - Adobe - FrameMaker : For Windows

Second, could you try saving the file as MIF and opening it in an earlier version (ideally a fully patched FM 9) to see if the problem persists? Or of course, creating a brand new equation in FM9.

[dsurvivor]

Thanks, Sheila, for lending me your ear.

I installed my ATCS3.0 with FM10 from the DVD. I patched FM10 to version 10.0.1.402 last month. I don't know if the equation editor worked fine regarding the issue at hand prior to the patch because I discovered it just recently.

I downloaded the FM10.0.1 patch again, and installed it (disconnected from the internet). However, structured or unstructured product interface, the error persists.

Much as I want to try your second suggestion, I could not because we don't have FM9.

Does your (or others) FM10 installation work fine with regards to the issue at hand? If so, did you (or they) install from the DVD or from the downloadable trial version? I want to be certain first whether something went wrong with my FM10 installation. Only then I will try reinstalling it  from whichever medium worked for them.

[Arnis_Gubins]

I can confirm that the problem goes back to at least FM6 (tried 9, 8, 7.2, 7.0 and 6.0). Looks like the root simplification is a very seldom used function. AFAIK, the equations tool hasn't been touched in FM since at least FM5.

You can file a bug report here: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=63

However, this isn't going to help you in the short term with the ability to verify your equations. You might want to ping (private message) Bob Matthews (http://forums.adobe.com/people/MrMathType) at Design Science - the makers of MathType - to see if he has any suggestions. He usually monitors these forums for any mention of his products, so hopefully he might drop in.

[MrMathType — Retired]

You might want to ping (private message) Bob Mathews (http://forums.adobe.com/people/MrMathType) at Design Science - the makers of MathType - to see if he has any suggestions. He usually monitors these forums for any mention of his products, so hopefully he might drop in.

Yes indeed, but in this case I don't know how much help I can be, since we're talking about the FM equation editor, which isn't our product. As you pointed out, the FM equation editor is old, but it's also true that it doesn't "play nice" with other software. I don't know of a way to use its information in MathType, or vice versa, or with other equation authoring languages or tools, such as LaTeX. (Incidentally, I get the same results in FM10/Win7x64.)

I think your recommendation to file a bug report is about the best advice any of us can give. Whether it'll have any effect or not is anyone's guess, but it's certainly true that it won't have any effect if the report isn't filed.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Bob,

Thanks for jumping in. I was hoping that you might know of a way that packages like Maple, Mathematica, Matlab or IDL might be used to evaluate eqautions and then link those to MathType for "publishing". This would then allow the MathType equations to be exported as EPS or PDF to place (as graphics) inside of FM. A bit of a roundabout way of achieving what is wanted here.

[MrMathType — Retired]

Thanks Arnis. I guess I'm thinking too much "inside the box", perhaps looking forward to a holiday weekend.

MathType can understand Maple and Mathematica equations if they're exported as MathML then pasted into MathType. There's no Matlab capability (not for exporting from Matlab to MathType anyway), nor for IDL. As to graphic formats, EPS is an option, though no direct "save as PDF" option yet (in the Windows version; that feature is Mac-only). The problem with using MathType equations in FrameMaker is that they must individually be manually aligned to the baseline of the text. There's probably a way to script that, especially since a MathType equation (whether GIF, WMF, or EPS) contains baseline offset information, but my expertise falls way short of that. Now if some enterprising FM expert wanted to take that on...

[Arnis_Gubins]

Thanks for the info on importing MML from Maple and Mathematica into MathType. I'll add that to my book of tricks.

Is the info on how the baseline offset is defined in the various graphic formats available? That would make a good scriptng challenge/exercise for both FrameScript and ExtendScript to shrinkwrap an imported (MathType) inline equation and properly align it with the rest of the text in that line.

Have an enjoyable long weekend - the end of summer weekend around here.

[MrMathType — Retired]

Is the info on how the baseline offset is defined in the various graphic formats available? That would make a good scriptng challenge/exercise for both FrameScript and ExtendScript to shrinkwrap an imported (MathType) inline equation and properly align it with the rest of the text in that line.

Yes, all of that (and more) is part of the MathType SDK, which is available for the paltry sum of telling us who you are and what you want the SDK for. You can download the SDK after filling out the form at http://www.dessci.com/en/reference/sdk/.

[dsurvivor]

I appreciate very much everybody's replies.

The Adobe Technical Communications Support is now resolving the issue... I pointed out to them your replies.

Thanks also for their prompt action.