how can I (easily) type logic symbols in Pages?

Question

how can I (easily) type logic symbols in Pages?

I am taking a Discrete Math/Structures course in which I need to type some of the logic symbols in a Word Processor. I noticed MS Word has a dedicated panel for this. Is there something similar in Pages?

I'm really not interested in using the Character Viewer. I've tried, and it's seriously slowing down my workflow.

For now, I just need these:

¬

∧

∨

→

↔︎

⊕

≣

≢

∅

⊂

⊃

∀

∃

⊆

⊇

... but I will eventually need others.

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 16, 2014 3:00 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 17, 2014 10:39 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

tridentinecanon wrote:

I noticed MS Word has a dedicated panel for this.

Are you referring to Insert > Symbol? Why is Character Viewer worse than that? Aren't they essentially the same thing?

In Word, under the Document Elements toolbar, there is an option to insert equations. What's nice about this is that it makes all the math symbols available for selection right in the toolbar.

I don't consider them the same mainly because the Character Viewer is in a separate window.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

121,914 points

Sep 17, 2014 11:25 AM in response to tridentinecanon

tridentinecanon wrote:

In Word, under the Document Elements toolbar, there is an option to insert equations. What's nice about this is that it makes all the math symbols available for selection right in the toolbar.

Thanks for the explanation. In Pages, the parallel would be Insert > MathType Equation. You do have to install MathType first, as that does not come with Pages or OS X. And I think it is not as convenient or as well integrated as Word's editor.

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

121,914 points

Sep 16, 2014 3:23 PM in response to tridentinecanon

tridentinecanon wrote:

I noticed MS Word has a dedicated panel for this.

Are you referring to Insert > Symbol? Why is Character Viewer worse than that? Aren't they essentially the same thing?

In any case, you could set up keyboard shortcuts for the things you need via system prefs/keyboard/text/symbol and text substitution.

Or you could make a custom keyboard layout with

http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele

Another utility that does similar mapping is Karabiner

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Answer 4

Sep 17, 2014 6:46 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks. The MathType app is too expensive for me, but I appreciate you suggesting it.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

121,914 points

Sep 17, 2014 7:09 PM in response to tridentinecanon

I think many users find mathtype's free trial is adequate for their needs even after it expires.

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Answer 6

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,922 points

Sep 17, 2014 7:24 PM in response to tridentinecanon

The MathType trial reverts to a free MathType Light after 30 days. The Math fonts remain functional in the light version. The equation editor in MS Word was originally written by the MathType folks.

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