How to insert an equation?

No, there's no option like this in Keynote. Users that need equations usually use some form of laTeX. One popular one is

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/math_science/latexit.html

Create the equation in MS Word, and then select a screenshot of it with CMDSHIFT4. If you zoom to 200% or so before you capture it, it will look better.

This will also capture the white background box so it'll show up when you try to use any theme that doesn't have a white background.

krypttic,
I don't have Office, but if you create an equation in MS Word, copy, open Preview, do Command-N, then copy and paste that into Keynote, does it get rid of the white background?

<<This will also capture the white background box so it'll show up when you try to use any theme that doesn't have a white background.>>

Of course, you can use the white background you captured to draw focus to the equation. One way to increase this focus is to use the Shapes palette to lay a slightly larger background (white or other color of your choice) behind the equation box and then put a border (and shadow) around it.

If you want the "text" of the equation to be colored, (or the background for that matter) you can do this when you create it in MS Word.

CAVEAT: When you create the original equation, be sure to choose a font and style that will look good and read easily when projected. Remember: What looks OK on paper may not necessarily translate well to a projection screen.

You can also try MathType, http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/.
You can create the equation, select it, then copy and paste into Keynote. No background is copied and you have full resolution. Afterwards, if you need to make a change to it, copy it from Keynote into MathType and edit. They have a 30 day trail version that turns to a limited version after they 30 days. But if you are a teacher, then you want to pay for the full version, it's been indispensable for me. I think the Equation editor that both MS and Appleworks have is us the same limited version you end up with if you don't pay for it.

Kyn Drake.

This program does not work. It will not download onto my MacBook Pro.

What about Grapher (in Applications)?

Regards,

Welcome to the discussions, nuculerman.

I tried it too, and it doesn't appear to work anymore. You can try this page to find more information regarding LaTeX on OSX.

http://theappleblog.com/2006/10/05/latex-and-osx/

Be careful, if you are using leopard, mathtype ruins some of your fonts (like arrows and proportional sign in half your fonts)