[ale] LaTeX question?

[James Sumners]

I would be scared of a mathematics program that requires Word's
Equation Editor over a LaTeX document.

On Dec 9, 2007 5:36 PM, Michael B. Trausch <mike at trausch.us> wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-12-09 at 16:06 -0500, James Sumners wrote:
> > A quick search returns this --
> > http://www.tug.org/utilities/texconv/textopc.html
>
> I had not seen that link yet.  Thank you, I will check that out a bit
> more here, I think maybe one of those tools might just do what I am
> looking for with a minimum of fixing up.
> >
> > I would be loathe to do it, though. LaTeX and Word serve two entirely
> > different purposes. Word is for those who don't know any better, and
> > LaTeX is for when it needs to be done right. It seems to me that if
> > you are working on a subject where LaTeX is the most appropriate tool,
> > then your instructor would accept a PDF, or even the TeX file. But if
> > the instructor is feeding the work through some sort of plagiarism
> > checker, then it's likely that the subject is english or literature.
> > For those, just stick with OpenOffice and hope that the Word exporter
> > gets it right.
>
> I like the idea of it much better than the idea of working with
> OpenOffice.org.  The subject is anything---including math and computing,
> but they require you to use Microsoft Word and Microsoft Equation
> Editor.  I might just ask if they can take an RTF file that has the
> content so that they can use whatever processing stuff on it that they
> want, and submit the document intended for them to view as a PDF.
>
> I don't quite understand how an online college that professes to teach
> computing concepts /doesn't/ encourage the use of a typesetter, since
> there are several TeX-based ones available that are free, and even the
> groff system can typeset somewhat decently from what I hear.
>
> Though I have to say, XeLaTeX takes the cake.  An easy way to use the
> fonts that I have installed, meeting alongside the power of LaTeX...
> very attractive, indeed.
>
> My main motivation for trying to find something like this is because
> using the APA package and BiBTeX for managing references, well, would
> make my life a /lot/ easier than doing all that crud manually in
> OpenOffice.  I wound up developing a template for OOo for the task, but
> it falls short, because OOo falls short.
>
>
>         --- Mike
>
> --
> Michael B. Trausch                                   mike at trausch.us
> home: 404-592-5746, 1                                 www.trausch.us
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> Ubuntu Unofficial Backports Project:    http://backports.trausch.us/
>
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-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59