Re: Formatting mathematics

[s.rahtz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sebastian Rahtz)]

D. Michael McFarland writes:
 > A colleague and I are writing an engineering text, heavy on figures
 > and mathematics.  We have a few sample chapters done in LaTeX, and
 > need to decide whether to continue with that or switch to SGML.  My
 > co-author is willing to learn to mark up text in either, but not both.
 > I'd like to use DocBook so we can generate both HTML and print
 > versions.
i'd suggest that the SGML/DSSSL/Jade route is not mature enough for a
serious engineering textbook

 > My biggest concern is support for mathematics, especially via jadetex.
 > Searching the archive turned up a few threads, about a year old, from
 > which I gather this is a developing area.  Could someone please bring
 > me up to date on the state of the art?
i have tested Jadetex's maths with nothing except files using the
Elsevier math DTD. I have seen no DSSSL implementing other math DTDs.
Remember that you have have to sort out the DSSSL code yourself -
Docbook has no math elements (does it?).

The support for math in Jade is ok for odd stuff, and I am fairly
confident jadetex interprets it correctly, but I wouldnt use it for a
book. For instance, we cannot yet do equation numbering! that needs
Jade to support side-by-side flow objects. I could (and probably will)
add a private _ad hoc_ flow object to the TeX backend to support this
one feature, but there are probably others like it. 

Write in LaTeX. Its a good authoring medium. But constrain your usage,
and you can then convert to SGML later

sebastian


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