The easiest way to prepare mathematical equations for display
in an HTML document is to use the equation editor in a word processor
such as Microsoft Word or Wordperfect to write the document that
contains equations and then use the capability of the word processor
to save the document in HTML format. (To learn more about this
capability, click here.)
Consider the following technical excerpt that was originally prepared,
as was this entire document, with MS Word for Windows and then
saved as an HTML document with MS Internet Assistant for Word:
and
where
Zo is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line
is the frequency of the wave
R is the series resistance per unit length of the transmission line
L is the series inductance per unit length of the transmission line
G is the shunt conductance per unit length of the transmission line
C is the shunt capacitance per unit length of the transmission line
is the (exponential) attenuation factor per unit length of the transmission line
is the (exponential) phase shift factor per unit length of the
transmission line
Note that
Notice that Internet Assistant has converted the equations to
bitmap graphics to display them in an HTML document. Although
this approach is a kludge, it works fairly well for equations
created with the equation editor. On the other hand, Greek letters
that have not been created with the equation editor (but simply
as a separate font) in the word processor have disappeared. The
disappearance is not primarily the fault of Internet Assistant,
however. The sad fact is that HTML versions up to 3.2 have no
provision of displaying Greek letters (not to mention equations,
except as bitmap graphics). Proposed version 3.0 of HTML did include
provisions for displaying Greek characters and other math symbols
and even entire equations. After a time for comment, however,
this proposed version was abandoned in mid-1996 because it included
so many new features beyond HTML 2.0 that it was judged to be
too difficult to implement. Instead, a scaled down HTML version
3.2 was adopted as the next version for implementation. Work is
proceeding to develop standards for representing mathematical
symbols and equations in HTML documents. To obtain the most recent
state of the situation, visit the site:
One work-around is to use the equation editor to enter even isolated
mathematical symbols in the text. Internet Assistant will then
convert these "equations" into bitmap graphics for display.
Consider the following lines from the example above in which the
Greek letters written in the Symbol font have been replaced by
Greek letters written with the equation editor:
is the frequency of the wave
is the (exponential) attenuation factor
per unit length of the transmission line
is the (exponential) phase shift factor
per unit length of the transmission line
Notice that the Greek letters now appear, although the appearance is ragged.
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