Some Inconvenient Truths...

[Roger A . Wehage]

I.T. #1: Using MathType with MS Word sucks. Big Time! I.T. #2: Our project at work is in big trouble. If we don't get our computer program working by the middle of February 2008, all funding will be cut and years of effort will go down the drain. I.T. #3: The theory for this computer program lies in a 48 page MS Word document (created in Microsoft Office 2000 on a PC) containing many hundreds of MathType expressions. It must be revised by January 2, 2008, so work can begin on revising the computer program. I.T. #4: The company is closed down between December 22, 2007 and January 1, 2008, so I must revise the document at home on my own time. :o( I.T. #5: I don't own a PC. I've never owned a PC. And I don't have a PC laptop that I can bring home from work. So I loaded the MS Word document onto my flash memory stick and transferred it to my MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, running OS X 10.4.11. I.T. #6: MS Word 2004, running on my MacBook Pro, reliably crashes (every time) when I attempt to convert the MathType expressions in this file from PC to Mac. I.T. #7: While contemplating what to do about this, I again play around with LyX, practicing making equations in its editor. And what I've learned so far is that it's almost as easy to create expressions in LyX's editor as it is in MathType. :o) I.T. #8: Earlier this week, I discovered a fantastic program called GrindEQ http://www.grindeq.com which unfortunately runs only on PCs, that will convert my many MS Word documents (including MathType expressions) to LaTeX, which can then be imported directly into LyX. Yes! Goodbye MS Word! I.T. #9: I don't have time right now to convert the 48 page MS Word document to LaTex and clean it up, and I still have some learning and practice before I can reliably use LyX to create and edit my documents. But I was able to convert the 48 page MS Word document to LaTex, and the results in LyX look very encouraging! I.T. #10: I found an inconvenient workaround to convert the 48 page MS Word document created on a PC to an MS Word document that can be viewed and edited in MS Word 2004 running on my MacBook Pro. It isn't pretty and requires a considerable amount of prayer and alcoholic spirits. :o( But it can be done. I.T. #11: Before doing anything, I make a backup copy of the file. More on that later. I.T. #12: The file must then be converted in little pieces. It seems that MS Word 2004 can't handle more than about 200 expressions at a time. I.T. #13: I use the mouse to select that portion of the document I want to convert. But not too much, or I'll violate the 200 _expression_ rule and MS Word will crash and I'll have to start all over again. Then I instruct MathType to convert the selected segment of the document and wait several minutes while meaningless garbage floats across the screen. This is a good time to have another beer and go play around with LyX. And for some, prayer might help, but not for me since I'm an Atheist. I.T. #14: If I'm lucky and MS Word hasn't crashed and the funny stuff has stopped flashing across the screen, I can (I'd better) save the file or I'll risk losing all the changes I've made so far. Don't laugh, damn it, it happened more than once. :o( I.T. #15: And it keeps getting better. (Time for another beer or maybe something stronger.) After I've saved the file I must then quit out of MS Word and relaunch it before converting the next segment of the file. If I don't, then MS Word will crash and quit for me, and I'll have to relaunch it anyway. Might as well be proactive. It seems that finishing up the previous block of conversion doesn't clear out MS Word's memory, so starting on another block of conversion must tack onto the end of the previous one. Go figure. I.T. #16: I managed to convert the entire file in four segments with only a couple of crashes. :o) But I did run low on beer and patience. And I now have a file that I can edit. I.T. #17: So let the fun begin! This next part will definitely require something stronger than beer, and it's certainly beyond the hope of prayer. I scan through the entire document and verify that all expressions have converted satisfactorily, even though the previous equation resizing has been lost; I can live with that. I.T. #18: It's time for some serious editing to fix the flaws in my theory, so we can get our computer project back on track. I scroll down to one of the many faulty equations that I have to revise, and I double click to edit in MathType, What!? Nothing appears in MathType's window but one or a few meaningless characters. Where's the beef? Maybe it's all those beers? I check the document and the _expression_ is right there, plain as day; I can see it, but it ain't in MathType. So I close MathType's window and try again. Same thing. And again and again. Same thing. I.T. #19: The hell with it. I go play some more with LyX and have another stiff drink. I think LyX's little icon is cute. :o) OK. Back to work. I remember that I'd created a backup file. So I open it in MS Word, go to the faulty _expression_, and double click on it. Voilà! It pops up in MathType's window and I can copy and past it back into MathType's other window in the other MS Word document. Without that backup document I'd have been toast. And the sad fact is, many of the converted expressions have been corrupted, and my only recourse is to go back to the backup file and replace them one at a time. That's bullshit! I.T. #20: I've wasted too much time, hundreds, maybe thousands of hours, battling MS Word with MathType. Now I'm looking forward to working with LyX. And GrindEQ can even convert my LaTeX files back to MS Word for those diehards who absolutely must rely on this archaic system. I.T. #21: If I'm to continue using MathType, it must be conveniently useable with LyX!