Math-o-mir brief guide, v2.

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Welcome to a brief guide to Math-o-mir software. This guide will introduce you to basics of
math typing.

The software natively runs under Microsoft Windows. The installation program,
MOMsetup.exe, will install the software on your computer. It will take about 1.5MB from
your disk space (Note: the software can also run from an USB stick if needed; the installation
is not really necessary.)

The main window

When started, the main window opens in less than 2 seconds (making me proud). Here you
can see the Math-o-mir main window. I labeled certain regions.

The Toolbox contains math elements. If you hold your mouser pointer above any of its
options, a Subtoolbox with more options will open… On the next page you can see a picture
detail with a Subtoolbox that opens when mouse pointer hovers above the summation sign.

Just below the color box, a simple help text can be shown if the mouse pointer points to a
Toolbox / Subtoolbox / Color box item. This help text may contain a reminder how to produce
that particular symbol or action using keyboard.

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Remember: For efficient math-typing you should not visit the toolbox often. Instead you
should learn to type common symbols by specific keystrokes.

Few words about your mouse pointer

The mouse usage is elaborate. For example, you can pick up math elements and expressions
anywhere from your document or from the toolbox, carry them around and place them down
into other expressions... The mouse pointer shape will reflect actions that you are currently
doing:

This is the starting, neutral mode to start various actions.

White arrow
When you carry (tow) some stuff (e.g. a math expression)
with your mouse. You can place the stuff down by left-
Black arrow (carrying) mouse-click.
When the typing mode is active – the blinking keyboard
cursor should be visible somewhere and you should be able
Heart-shaped arrow (typing) to type.

When a hand-drawing tool is selected and you are ready to

Pencil arrow (drawing) make some drawings.

Whatever you do with your mouse, you can always reach the ‘white arrow’ state by hitting the
Esc key (once or few times) or by right-mouse clicking on the empty document area. In
Math-o-mir the right-mouse click on empty document area will almost always have the
same effect as the Esc key - aborting the current action.

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Our first equation
To type something, we first must start the typing mode - to do this just mouse-click
anywhere on the document area. Here is what you can expect to happen:

Observe that both, the blinking cursor and the text control box are of blue color. This means
that math-typing mode is active (if you see them green, then the text-typing mode is active).

As we now have the blinking cursor, we can just type: F = m a

You typed your first super-simple equation. From here you can do several things:

- you can mouse-click somewhere else to start another equation on another place
- you can hit the Enter key to start another equation just below this one
- you can use arrow keys to move the blinking cursor around your document
- you can hit the Esc key or right-mouse click anywhere on the empty document area to
end the typing mode (the mouse pointer will revert to the white arrow)

Typing plain text

Before we continue to more complex math, I want to first show you how to type plain text,
that is, how to switch between math-typing and plain-text-typing modes.

Start the typing mode (by mouse clicking somewhere on the document area, as explained in
the previous chapter) and then hit the Alt+Spacebar (or Spacebar+Enter or double-backslash)
keystroke. Two things should happen:

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 - the blinking keyboard cursor line will become green
- the text-control box will become green

The green color represents the text typing mode (while the blue color represents math typing
mode). As we now have the green blinking cursor we can type any text:

The plain-text may be written with different font than when you are typing math. Also notice
that if you press the Enter key while typing plain text, the text line will be warped (while
when you type math, the Enter key will create new object below the current object).

Here is the deal: you can toggle between math-typing mode and text-typing mode by
using the Alt+Spacebar keystroke (or by Spacebar+Enter. whatever suits you better).

Example:
[spacebar] T h e [spacebar] f o r m u l a[Alt+spacebar] F = m a [Alt+Spacebar] i s [spacebar] c o o l .

(In the above example the first spacebar can switch into the text-typing mode because the
object is still entirely empty. But later we had to use Alt+Spacebar to make the switch.)

There are other ways to begin typing a plain text. I will name a few:
- If you started an entirely new object (if the object is still entirely empty), then you can
just hit the Spacebar key (instead of Alt+Spacebar or Spacebar+Enter). In my opinion,
this is the handiest method to start typing a plain text.
- You can use double-click (instead of just simple mouse click) at empty document area.
- If you start typing plain text vigorously into an empty math object, the software will
understand and will automatically switch into text typing mode. I find this handy.

Typing Greek symbols

I don’t have to worry any more that you will accidentally switch into the text-typing mode (if you do, you will
know how to use Alt+Spacebar to return back into the ‘blue’ math-typing mode).

Greek symbols are best typed by double-stroking. For example to type the Greek alpha
character, you should quickly double-stroke the letter ‘a’ on your keyboard; so let try with:
aa + bb = DD

You have to double-stroke relatively fast – within one second. If you are slow when typing
the ‘aa’ sequence, then instead of the alpha symbol you will just get the ‘a’ two times.

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An alternative way to generate a Greek symbol would be by typing a command like \alpha
and then hitting spacebar or enter or some math operator. Therefore, the above example can
be generated by using: \alpha + \beta = \Delta [spacebar]

Exponents and indexes

To type a simple exponent use Alt+something keystroke. For example Alt+2 should generate
square. Let’s type: E = m c [Alt+2]

The ‘c’ in the above formula got squared. You can hold down the Alt key to type more
complex exponents - as long as you keep the Alt key down, you will type into the exponent.

But to type complex exponents, it may be handier to use the ^ key instead. For example we
could type: e ^ i pp [Enter] = - 1

By using the ^ key we created the exponent box where we can freely write any expression.
We then used the Enter key to exit the exponent and continue typing on the main equation
line. Note that instead of the ^ key you can also use the “ key (double quotation mark). It is
because on some keyboards the ^ key might act as an annoying ‘dead key’.

Indexes (indices) are typed in a very similar way, only except Alt+something, you should use
Spacebar+something. For example: R [Spacebar+1] = R [Spacebar+2] + R [Spacebar+3]

Again, you can instead use the _ key (underline) to create an index box where you can write
the index without need to hold down the spacebar key.

Typing fractions
There are two ways to type a fraction. One method is to first generate a fraction line, and then
type the numerator and the denominator. Hit the ‘/ ‘ key twice (double slash) to generate the
fraction line. For example: F = G / / m [spacebar+1] m [spacebar+2] [Enter] r [Alt+2] [Enter]

In the above example we generated the fraction using the double slash. The cursor was
automatically placed into the numerator. After finishing with the numerator, we used the
Enter key to quickly transfer the cursor into the denominator.

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The second method to type a fraction may be handier for fractions that have simple
numerators. You first type the numerator and then you use the # key to put the fraction line
under the numerator. For example: I = U # R [Enter]

In the above example, when we typed the # (hash) key, the last typed character was sucked
into the numerator. But we could type the # key more times to suck in more characters. For
example: N a + b # # # 2 [Enter]

I would suggest you to get familiar with both these methods of fraction typing. Instead of #
key you can also use the grave accent key (handy on US keyboards).

Casting commands and using quick sequences

As you type, you can cast a command to instruct the software to insert particular symbol or to
do some other action. To cast a command, you start it with the \ (backslash) key and you
execute it by hitting the Spacebar key, the Enter key or any math-operator key (like + or -).
Example: A \oplus [spacebar] B = C

For example, to change the text color to red, you can cast the \red command. To convert the
text to a headline you can use \h1 or \h2 or \h3 commands. Some interesting commands to
insert various symbols are: \sqrt, \root, \angle, \emptyset, \sum, \int, \iint, \oint, \d, \par, \dd,
\parpar, \case, \exists, \forall, \elm, \therefore, \because, \nabla, \delta, \times, \cap, \cup, \perp,
\parallel, \mapsto, \mid, \propto, \approx… If you know the LaTeX, you already noticed that
many commands are just the same.

Many symbols can also be generated handier way by using keystroke sequences or keystroke
combinations. For example, if you type plus sign and then minus sign, the sequence will be
converted into the plus-minus sign. Here is the partial list of quick sequences:

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Note: the @ key is always converted into the infinity symbol; the * key into the small dot (the
multiplying dot). Pressing Ctrl+X, the ‘times’ symbol can be created. Arrows can be
generated by Alt+arrow keystrokes… Also try: AA (for all), EE (exists), UU (union), II
(parallel), TT (perpendicular), MM (mid), BB (bullet)… NN, ZZ, RR, KK, CC…

Typing functions
You might be tempted not to use functions. You may decide that it is easier just to type things
like:

In the above example the ‘f’ was not entered as a function, but just as a regular variable. To
you it might look pretty much clear that the f() is a function, but to the software, due to math
notation ambiguity, it is looks as if you wrote:

To make the software understand there is a function, the ‘f’ should be entered the special way.
One way is by the backslash key (as when casting a command): \f ( x [Enter] = x [Alt+2]

To show the difference between a function and a variable, the software displays function
names in a bit greenish color (also uses upright serif font).

Fortunately there is a more handy way to type common functions (such as: f, sin, cos, tg, tan,
arcsin, sh, ch, log, exp, Re, Im…). Type the function name and then hit the dot (period) key.
The dot key will generate the function, like in the following example:
s i n . 2 x [Enter] = 2 s i n . x [Enter] c o s . x [Enter]

In the above example we generated a function three times. Each time we used the Enter key to
exit the function argument.

Our first example can thus be typed as: f . x [Enter] = x [Alt+2]. Note that when you are
creating multi-letter function names (like ‘sin’ or ‘cos’) parentheses will not be added
automatically around the function argument; if needed, you can type them yourself.

Units of measurement
When you need to type a measurement unit, you hit the dot (period) key and then type the
unit(s). For example: F = 1 0 . 3 . k g [Spacebar] m / s [Alt+2]

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Measurement units are displayed in pale color to distinguish them from variables. The first
dot in the above example is only used as the decimal point, but the second dot is used to start
the entry of the measurement unit (if you type a letter after the dot, it triggers the
measurement unit entry)

The letter ‘u’ can be converted to the Greek ‘mi’ symbol: l = 5 . u m

Tip: To make a degree sign, you can hit the ‘ (apostrophe) key three times after a number. To
make degree Celsius, you can use ‘C (apostrophe-C) sequence after a number. To enter foots,
I would suggest using the apostrophe (‘) key twice instead of the double quotation mark.

Typing multi-letter variables

By factory defaults, the software will prefer single letter variables. That is, if you just type
abc, the software will generate three variables.

But if you really want to enter a multi-letter variable then you must start the entry with the
apostrophe key and finish it with the Spacebar key or the Enter key or with any math operator
key (like + or – or =). For example: ‘ t h i r d = ‘ f i r s t + ‘ s e c o n d [Spacebar]

If you are like me, you will forget to start a multi-letter variable with the apostrophe key. You
can then help yourself by using Shift+Backspace keystroke. This keystroke will splice letters
together, like in the following example: 1 + a b c [Shift+backspace] [Shift+backspace] + X

Differentials, Integrals, Summation

The dot key can be useful to quickly type several things – look at examples below:

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Note that if you use above methods to insert summation or integral signs, you can then
immediately hit the underline key to insert/edit summation/integral limits.

Uppercase letters
To type capital (uppercase) letters and some other keyboard symbols you typically use a
Shift+key combination. That is easy.

However in Math-o-mir you sometimes hold down the Alt key to type exponents or you hold
down the Spacebar key to type indexes. This means that if you want to type an uppercase
letter into an exponent you might end using Alt+Shift+key combination. Awkward!

In Math-o-mir, when you press a key and keep it pressed down for about half second, the
symbol will turn itself into the uppercase variant. So if you type: y = x [Alt+n kept down]

This surely slows down your typing, but can be useful to avoid using both hands.

Editing equations, making corrections

More or less, we now know how to type. But as we type we will make many mistakes and we
will want to make corrections. The backspace key is our primary weapon to make immediate
corrections.

But when you notice an earlier error, you might want to place the blinking cursor there and
make the correction. The cursor can be moved by:
- Keyboard arrow keys – you can move the cursor within your current equation or
drive it outside of the equation and then into another equation. That is, you can use
keyboard arrow keys to drive the cursor all over the document. You will need
experience to know the most efficient way to move the cursor across an equation.
- Mouse – point the mouse pointer between equation elements and click. The cursor
will be moved there. (The ‘insertion point’ will be shown when you point the mouse
pointer between elements – I will talk more about insertion points later in this
document)

Working with keyboard selections

Using Shift+LeftArrow or Shift+RightArrow keystrokes, you can select (highlight) elements
toward left or toward right from your current cursor location. The selected elements will be
highlighted blue. For example: 2 n + 1 [Shift+Left] [Shift+Left] [Shift+Left]

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In the above example we typed the ‘2n+1’ equation and then we selected ‘n+1’ part by hitting
the Shift+LeftArrow three times (of course, you may hold the Shift key down and only hit the
Left Arrow key three times).

Once you have elements selected, you can use following keystrokes in order to:
- Ctrl+C – copy them (use Ctrl+V to paste them later)
- Ctrl+X – cut them (use Ctrl+V to paste them later)
- Backspace or Delete – delete them
- / (slash key) or # (hash key) or ` (grave accent key) – put the fraction line under them
- 0…9 (number keys) – put them to the power
- ( or [ or { (parentheses keys) – put parentheses around them
- R (red), G (green) – changes the color of selected objects
- B (bold), I (italic), U (underline), O (overline), S (strikeout)
- C – puts restriction line after them
- Enter – opens popup menu with additional options

Using mouse: touching

Touching (highlighting) math elements and expressions is an art on its own. When you move
the mouse pointer over an equation you will see various parts of it being highlighted as you
are touching them. Here are examples:

Here the mouse is pointed at the ‘n’ variable in the

fraction denominator. The variable is touched.

Here the mouse is pointed at the fraction line. The

whole fraction gets touched. (When you touch an
element that contains other elements, they all get
touched)

If you hold down the Shift key while you are touching, you will be able to touch (highlight)
more objects (multitouch) than you normally can by pointing your mouse arrow at one single
spot. In the following example we highlighted (touched) objects by pointing at the ‘2’, then
pressing and holding down the Shift key while moving the mouse pointer toward the fraction
line.

Multitouched elements have blue background hue… (Instead of holding down the Shift key
while multitouching, you could mouse click at the ‘2’ and hold the mouse button down while
sliding the pointer toward the fraction line.)

To recognize the best places where to point your mouse in order to touch certain equation
elements you should get some experience.

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Once you have elements touched you can pick them up by a mouse click (better said, you will
create a copy of touched objects) that you can then carry somewhere else. You can also use
‘long mouse click’ to cut the touched objects. Finally, with a right-mouse click you can open
the pop-up menu with additional options that you can apply to the touched objects.

But there is one more thing. In addition to object and expressions, you can also touch
‘insertion points’. Insertion points are spaces between math elements. When touched, an
insertion point will be represented by a thin blue (or green, for plain-text) vertical line.

In the above example, the mouse pointer hovers above the insertion point that is placed just
behind the ‘n’ element. If you mouse-click at a touched insertion point, the typing mode will
start at this point (that is, the blinking cursor will appear at this insertion point and you will be
able to type something there). You can also insert object that you carry (tow) with your mouse
by clicking at insertion points – more about this in the next chapter.

Using mouse to edit equations

You must make difference between two cases:

- When the typing mode is active (that is, when the blinking cursor is present and the
mouse pointer is heart shaped) – clicking at any math object (an element or expression
within your document or an element from the toolbox) will immediately copy this
object where your blinking cursor is placed (as if you typed it there).

- When the typing mode is not active (that is, when the mouse pointer looks like white
arrow) – clicking at any math object (an element or expression within your document
or an element from the toolbox) will ‘pick up’ a copy of this object and you will be
able to carry it around and place it down, by another click, wherever you want.

Here is an example for the first case (the typing mode is active)… Let say we have some math
already written and we are now typing the second line. The blinking cursor is placed just after
the + sign:

Now we point our heart-shaped mouser pointer to one of parenthesis from the first line (this
will highlight the whole parentheses object) and we click. The parentheses object gets copied
to the blinking cursor position immediately

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This is how you can quickly copy elements and expressions into the equation that you are
typing. As said, you can click at an object or expressions within your document or within the
toolbox.

Let also check a similar example for the second case (the typing mode is not active)… We
have two math lines written. We then touch, using our white arrow mouse pointer, one of the
parenthesis from the first line (the whole parentheses object becomes highlighted).

After we click, the highlighted object(s) is copied and picked up. The mouse pointer color will
change to black and the object that we picked up will be seen towed around.

Using this black arrow you can now touch an ‘insertion point’ just behind the plus sign in the
second line.

Finally, when the insertion point is touched, we can click it and the towed object(s) will be
placed (inserted) right there. The mouse pointer arrow will revert to white color (as it is not
towing anything anymore)

In the above example, we inserted the carried (towed) objects at the insertion point. It is also
possible to place carried (towed) objects over existing objects in order to replace them. To do
that use the same procedure, but instead of touching an insertion point with your black-arrow
pointer, you should touch object(s) that you want to replace… and then mouse-click.

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Handling fonts
Handling fonts in Math-o-mir is more elaborate than in a typical text editor. To deal with
fonts, you can use two header options in the Toolbox (the ‘U’ and the ‘M’ options). There you
can predefine eight uniform fonts (the ‘U’ option) and one mixed font (the ‘M’) option.

By clicking at any of these predefined font options it will become active. (note: it is also
possible to define a keyboard accelerator to activate them but this is beyond the scope of this
document.)

Uniform fonts are all familiar. The only new moment is that a uniform font can be declared
‘singleshoot’ – meaning that only one character will be cast in this font and as soon as you
typed it, the previously active font will become active again.

The one mixed font allows you to define font casting for every character separately. You can
for example adjust that whenever you type the letter F it will be cast bold-italic, while other
characters will be cast upright-normal.

Even if the mixed font option is active, once you engage the text-typing mode (the green
blinking cursor), the lastly used uniform font will become temporary activated for as long as
the text-typing mode is active. The plain text just cannot be written with mixed font.

The moving dot

The moving dot is a small rectangle at the lower left corner of each equation in your
document. It becomes visible when the mouse is pointing at the equation. It becomes black
when the mouse is pointing at the moving dot itself.

You can click-and-drag at the moving dot to move the equation around. Pointing at the
moving dot is also the easiest way to touch (highlight) the whole equation.

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Navigating your document
You can use your mouse wheel and scrollbars to scroll the document. You can also use
PageUp and PageDown for the same. A way to precisely scroll the document is to use right-
mouse-click-and-drag action.

To zoom in or zoom out you can hold down the Ctrl key (or the right-mouse-button key)
while using the mouse wheel. You can also use F2 and F3 keys.

You can right-click at the vertical scrollbar to display your document in the tiles view (click at
a tile to jump at the location).

Adding space for more equations

If you point your mouse pointer very near the left edge of the document area and hold it
steady for 2-3 seconds, the vertical ruler will appear (a thin yellowish ribbon with a scale).
You can click and drag-down at the ruler to add more space between your equations so that
you can squeeze in some more math.

Hand drawing
Hand drawing tools can be found at the bottom of the toolbox. When you select any, the
mouse pointer arrow will change into pen shape and you will be able to draw over your
document.

Details are beyond the scope of this manual. Just one tip: I suggest you to learn how to edit
drawing nodes because it is difficult to draw with mouse and you will need to make
corrections often. To enable node editing, check the bottom-left option in the color box
window.

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Note: to draw a horizontal/vertical section line or to draw a curly bracket (both things often
drawn by mathematicians) you don’t even need to select any drawing tool. Using your normal
mouse pointer just click-and-drag as if you want to paint a horizontal/vertical line or a very
thin rectangle. The rectangle will contain either a pale-colored line or bracket. If you stop
moving your mouse for a short while (still holding down the mouse key) the line/bracket will
become darker – you can then release the mouse button and the line/bracket will appear.

What is it I did not even mention?

Toolbox customization The Quick Type feature
Keyboard accelerators Labels and Hyperlinks
The presentation mode Editing tables and matrices
Page numbering Symbolic computation issues
Working with mouse selections Description of menu options
Grid and guidelines Hand-drawing details
Context menu types and options The Drawing Box
The ‘Variable mode’ The Function Plotter
Decorating variables (with overhead Document management
symbols) Making electronic exams
The Autocomplete functionality … more …

If you are interested to learn everything, a much more voluminous book “Math-o-mir users
manual” exists. Look for it on the internet.

Contact and additional help

You can contact me by mail: danijel.gorupec@gmail.com

Do not hesitate to ask any question.

Danijel Gorupec, 2017.

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