Document 53

Breaking expressions

Version: 2.5 - Scientific WorkPlace & Scientific Word

Q. I have an equation that must be broken up into multiple lines and which also has parentheses around it. If I put the equation in a display and then press Enter where I want to split it onto two lines, each parenthesis now is two lines high. How can I split the equation without changing the size of either parenthesis?

A. SW's expanding brackets form an object that always appears as a rectangle. It cannot be broken across lines. When you place the insertion point within this object and press Enter, SW creates a matrix within the expanding brackets.

This means that you must do something special in order to break a large expression that you want enclosed in large, or expanding, brackets.

There are two possible solutions to this problem. Break the expression in two by hand, then either use empty brackets at the end of the first line and the beginning of the second line, or use TeX's larger brackets to surround the expression. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. We suggest you experiment with both, especially if you're entering a large number of expressions.

Added 07/31/96

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