how to type an overbar

You can try Edit > Special Characters, View = Code Tables, Unicode 00000300 Combining Diacritical Marks, 0304 or 0305 (input after the base character) v̅. Some fonts may work better than others, try Lucida Grande.

If you need to do a lot of such stuff, an equation editor may make sense.

selecting character 305 in the table, then type O, Click Insert, type P, click Insert

The rule is that the base character is input first followed by the combining character or characters second. The combining character or characters stack from the base character at centre and out, depending on the direction defined for the combining character.

Slight problem, though not for mathematics since mathematics is not seen as something everyday endusers search. The problem is that the author as well as the audience has to know that the combining character sequence can be search only as that combining character sequence.

You can't search a combining character sequence from Microsoft Windows, including Vista. The reason is that the Windows Character Map can only input a character if that character is in the currently selected font - even if you know the character, you can't search the standard for it.

While the Apple Character Palette does let one input, it has no demarcation between combining character sequences that single spellings too and combining character sequences that stay synthetic serial spellings. This means that in academic mathematics, in academic linguistics, in academic library cataloguing (in so far as the cataloguer attempts to match appearance by direct drawing in the character model), searching is colossaly complicated.

/hh

k,

I tried Tom's suggestion and found that the effect you want is obtained by selecting character 305 in the table, then type O, Click Insert, type P, click Insert.

Jerry

You're welcome, but Tom deserves the credit, not me. Glad you got it.

Jerry