alignment with bullets and equations

Question

When I construct a statement like...

(start of example)

Find the range of f: R to R

 a) f(x) = equation

(end of example)

...when I hit enter to go to the next line it automatically indents and puts a "b)" there. Which is fine. I hit backspace, the cursor stays put and the "b)" disappears. But when I then his 'alt +' to insert and equation, it automatically goes to center alignment instead of staying where it's at. This is very annoying. How can I stop this from happening so I don't have to hit align left every time?

Answer 1

Center alignment is the default for equations in Word. You can click the little arrow on the equation "box" and change the Justification for a single equation.

Answer 2

The Equation Editor is programmed so that an equation object (the box you type into) is alone in a paragraph, it defaults to centered. If you add any character before or after the equation object, the editor makes it "in line with text".

This suggests that you can align all your equations where you want them by typing one or more spaces or a tab at the left margin before pressing Alt+= to start the equation:

The drawback (depending on your preferences) is that an in-line equation always reduces the sizes of built-up fractions and some larger characters. For instance, as a centered equation, the last one above becomes

Answer 3

Here, I find that if I change the justification to "Left," that choice is preserved when I insert a new equation. The chosen option appears to survive saving, closing and reopening the document too. Does that help?

Answer 4

In many cases, you would want a centered equation/formula accompanied by a number on the far right.

As an alternative, you can insert an equation in line with text in a paragraph, of course.

Answer 5

Well... that is a disappointing oversight of customization from the illustrious Microsoft. Google docs it is. Thank you for the response.