Equation editor

Question

Dear all, 

I am trying to write a piecewise function with 4 pieces in equation editor. This has always been a trivial task. You would insert a piecewise function and then press enter at the end of the line to add a new line, up to your heart's content. There is no way I can get equation editor to work. Is there a work around? Is this a know fix caused by a specific update and is there a way to revert the update? Like everyone, I am in the middle of important work with deadlines that I need to meet, this is so frustrating.

Answer 1

Hi Alex,

I go through the post carefully, we can build a Piece-wise function in Word by

1. Click Insert>Equation.
2. In Bracket, select the piece-wise function from Example in Common Brackets, and you may edit your equation based on your requirements.

 

Can you insert the piece-wise function in this way? Or if the equation editor doesn’t work in Word at all? If you cannot edit any equation with the editor, please try run Office online repair and check the result, go to Control Panel>Apps & Features>Find Office>Modify>Online repair, for more information: Repair an Office application - Office Support

If suggestions above doesn’t help, could you please share information below with us for further troubleshooting?

1. What is your Office version? could you please share a screenshot on File>Account page with us?
2. Did you get error message? or could you please share more details on symptom of the issue with us?

Regards,

Clark

Answer 2

Hi Clark,

Thanks for your reply. I know how to insert a stepwise function. I have been using the equation editor for many years. For some unexplained reason today when I tried to edit a stepwise function a bug arises. I also tested for my document being corrupt, even restarted my computer, and installed recent updates. Even with a new document, it was impossible to write a 5 piece stepwise function as in the following image.

 

To create the attached image I had to use MathType in the 30-day free trial version and then select "convert to word math" to solve my problem.  Any other approach such as inserting a piecewise function and editing led to an unresponsive error or this:

Can you please at least confirm if this is a bug with the latest update and not an issue at my end?

Answer 3

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the update. I test on my side in latest version of Current Channel and Beta Channel, but I don’t get the same issue. so I think this could not be a bug in latest version of these channels. May I know which version of Office you are using?

Per the issue you meet, it seems that you get display issue for the equation, do you select display the equation as liner? What if you try convert it to professional manually? The display issue could be related to the Cambria Math font, I would suggest you run Office online repair and check if it works. On how to do so:Repair an Office application - Office Support

Regards,

Clark

Answer 4

Dear Clark, 

I tried online repair and it did not fix the issue. 

I am using version: 16.0.13426.20270

If it helps let me add four more observations: 

1. I do manage to work around the issue by adding a stepwise function with as many steps as I wish in Mathtype and then using the convert to office math option. But this is a dirty work around that does not address the rest of the issues with math editor
2. Even if I enter a stepwise function using the workaround from above and then try to add another line by pressing enter, the editor gets unresponsive.

3. Along with the errors mentioned above I noticed one more error. When I insert letters and certain characters like the minus sign in an equation, the editor does not convert them to editor's font immediately but only after I press enter (this was never the case and it is not the case still with numbers or with the plus and equals sign. See examples below. 
4. I don't think the change to linear and change to professional works as supposed to. See example below, where I try to convert from professional to linear and from linear to professional.

Best,

Alex

Answer 5

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the updates. I test on my side but I cannot repro the behaviors you mentioned. Here are further suggestions:

1. Attachment in Private message is the Cambria Math font that used on my side, which is a built in font in Windows system, please install the font again and check if this fix the font if it get corrupted.
2. Please try open Word under safe mode and check the result, you may Press CTRL while double click the word document. This will help check if the issue is related to any add-ins used in Word. For more information: Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC

Hope these can help and please share any update you get with us.

Regards,

Clark