1EQN(1) General Commands Manual EQN(1)
2delim $$
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8 eqn, neqn, checkeq - typeset mathematics
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11 eqn [ -dxy ] [ -pn ] [ -sn ] [ -fn ] [ file ] ...
12 checkeq [ file ] ...
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15 Eqn is a troff(1) preprocessor for typesetting mathematics on a Graphic
16 Systems phototypesetter, neqn on terminals. Usage is almost always
17 eqn file ... | troff
19 neqn file ... | nroff
20 If no files are specified, these programs read from the standard input.
22 A line beginning with `.EQ' marks the start of an equation; the end of
23 an equation is marked by a line beginning with `.EN'. Neither of these
24 lines is altered, so they may be defined in macro packages to get cen‐
25 tering, numbering, etc. It is also possible to set two characters as
26 `delimiters'; subsequent text between delimiters is also treated as eqn
27 input. Delimiters may be set to characters x and y with the command-
28 line argument -dxy or (more commonly) with `delim xy' between .EQ and
29 .EN. The left and right delimiters may be identical. Delimiters are
30 turned off by `delim off'. All text that is neither between delimiters
31 nor between .EQ and .EN is passed through untouched.
32 The program checkeq reports missing or unbalanced delimiters and
34 .EQ/.EN pairs.
35 Tokens within eqn are separated by spaces, tabs, newlines, braces, dou‐
37 ble quotes, tildes or circumflexes. Braces {} are used for grouping;
38 generally speaking, anywhere a single character like x could appear, a
39 complicated construction enclosed in braces may be used instead. Tilde
40 ~ represents a full space in the output, circumflex ^ half as much.
41 Subscripts and superscripts are produced with the keywords sub and sup.
43 Thus x sub i makes $x sub i$, a sub i sup 2 produces $a sub i sup 2$,
44 and e sup {x sup 2 + y sup 2} gives $e sup {x sup 2 + y sup 2}$.
45 Fractions are made with over: a over b yields $a over b$.
47 sqrt makes square roots: 1 over sqrt {ax sup 2 +bx+c} results in $1
49 over sqrt {ax sup 2 +bx+c}$ .
50 The keywords from and to introduce lower and upper limits on arbitrary
52 things: $lim from {n-> inf} sum from 0 to n x sub i$ is made with lim
53 from {n-> inf } sum from 0 to n x sub i.
54 Left and right brackets, braces, etc., of the right height are made
56 with left and right: left [ x sup 2 + y sup 2 over alpha right ] ~=~1
57 produces $left [ x sup 2 + y sup 2 over alpha right ] ~=~1$. The right
58 clause is optional. Legal characters after left and right are braces,
59 brackets, bars, c and f for ceiling and floor, and "" for nothing at
60 all (useful for a right-side-only bracket).
61 Vertical piles of things are made with pile, lpile, cpile, and rpile:
63 pile {a above b above c} produces $pile {a above b above c}$. There
64 can be an arbitrary number of elements in a pile. lpile left-justi‐
65 fies, pile and cpile center, with different vertical spacing, and rpile
66 right justifies.
67 Matrices are made with matrix: matrix { lcol { x sub i above y sub 2 }
69 ccol { 1 above 2 } } produces $matrix { lcol { x sub i above y sub 2 }
70 ccol { 1 above 2 } }$. In addition, there is rcol for a right-justi‐
71 fied column.
72 Diacritical marks are made with dot, dotdot, hat, tilde, bar, vec,
74 dyad, and under: x dot = f(t) bar is $x dot = f(t) bar$, y dotdot bar
75 ~=~ n under is $y dotdot bar ~=~ n under$, and x vec ~=~ y dyad is $x
76 vec ~=~ y dyad$.
77 Sizes and font can be changed with size n or size ±n, roman, italic,
79 bold, and font n. Size and fonts can be changed globally in a document
80 by gsize n and gfont n, or by the command-line arguments -sn and -fn.
81 Normally subscripts and superscripts are reduced by 3 point sizes from
83 the previous size; this may be changed by the command-line argument
84 -pn.
85 Successive display arguments can be lined up. Place mark before the
87 desired lineup point in the first equation; place lineup at the place
88 that is to line up vertically in subsequent equations.
89 Shorthands may be defined or existing keywords redefined with define:
91 define thing % replacement % defines a new token called thing which
92 will be replaced by replacement whenever it appears thereafter. The %
93 may be any character that does not occur in replacement.
94 Keywords like sum ( sum ) int ( int ) inf ( inf ) and shorthands like
96 >= (>=) -> (->), and != ( != ) are recognized. Greek letters are
97 spelled out in the desired case, as in alpha or GAMMA. Mathematical
98 words like sin, cos, log are made Roman automatically. Troff(1) four-
99 character escapes like \(bs () can be used anywhere. Strings enclosed
100 in double quotes "..." are passed through untouched; this permits key‐
101 words to be entered as text, and can be used to communicate with troff
102 when all else fails.
103
105 troff(1), tbl(1), ms(7), eqnchar(7)
106 B. W. Kernighan and L. L. Cherry, Typesetting Mathematics—User's Guide
107 J. F. Ossanna, NROFF/TROFF User's Manual
108
110 To embolden digits, parens, etc., it is necessary to quote them, as in
111 `bold "12.3"'.
1127th Edition May 9, 1986 EQN(1)