Technical Publishing with Microsoft Word

Technical Publishing with Microsoft Word

Numbered Equations

Numbered equations normally look like this:

f = ma


(1)

with the equation (nearly) centered in the column and the equation number justified to the right. Although Microsoft Word has an equation numbering feature as part of its caption feature, it puts the equation number either above or below the equation, not on the same line as is normally done.

One workable method, suggested by Eric Kiersky of Microsoft, is to use a 1x2 table, with the equation centered in the left cell and a field number right-justified in the right cell, like this:

f = ma


(2)

Both cells have their contents centered vertically. Of course the borders should be turned off (border width set to zero) to make them invisible using Table Properties.

To make the equation numbers, insert a sequence field in the right cell. From the "Insert" menu choose "Field...". In the "Field" dialog box, pick the "Numbering" category and "Seq" field name. Type "Eq" (or whatever you want to call your equation number field) in the text box after "SEQ". This is all shown in the dialog box below. Do this for every numbered equation.

To cross reference the equation number in the regular text, pick "Cross-reference ..." from the "Insert" menu with the cursor placed at the point where the cross reference should appear.

Now the equations will be numbered sequentially. If you add a new equation between previously numbered equations, the numbering will not update immediately. It should update during "Print" or "Print Preview".

For more tips on equations (and also the source of the above idea for numbering equations), see http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/ec/equations/equation.html.

Here's another technique that I ran across recently that I like better than the above: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212381/EN-US/.