mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[TeXmacs <address@hidden>]

Hi,

On Fri, Oct 18, 2019 at 01:55:32PM +0200, Frank wrote:
> Hello. I wonder what is the suggested way to insert texts in math
> formulae (which will be adapted to semantic editing)? For example,
> when I want to write a notation for étale cohomology, I need to add
> "ét" as the subscript of "H", but I failed to find a good way to
> preserve the accented "é". If I input the unaccented version "et"
> instead, seemingly "et" will be recognized as a name and rendered
> non-italicized, but I do not know whether in the semantic sense this
> is a right thing to do in TeXmacs?

The (syntactical) semantics of "ordinary" text inside mathematics
is trickier than it seems.

The correct reply to your question is to enter "ét" as a textual operator,
using Insert -> Textual operator -> Normal.  In that case, the operator
is syntactically equivalent to a mathematical symbol, such as 'x'.
If you need an italic version, then you may use
Insert -> Textual operator -> Italic.

The default (syntactical) semantics of text inside math formulas
(as entered using Insert -> Text) is to simply ignore the text.
This is not appropriate in your case, since it would leave
you with an "empty subscript".

Ordinary text may occur in many other ways inside formulas.
For instance, some people prefer writing "and" instead of
using the /\ symbol.  In that case, when using "semantic editing",
you have to manually attach the correct semantics to such text,
using Insert -> Semantics -> Logical and.

I am considering adding macros for some of the most frequently
used words, such as 'and', 'or', 'where', 'almost everywhere', etc.
But this needs to be carefully thought out.

Best wishes, --Joris