On Aug 19, 2013, at 5:56 AM, Guenter Milde <mi...@users.sf.net> wrote:
> On 2013-08-08, bieniasz wrote: >> Richard Heck <rgheck <at> lyx.org> writes: > >>> What happens, then, when you add a new equation somewhere in >>> the middle of the document? > >> This is what LyX already does - it updates automatically the equation >> numbers. My point is why one cannot use these numbers for referencing >> the equations in the text, since they are already there, up-to-date. > > But how do you find out the up-to-date number of the equation in chapter > 3 you want to reference in chapter 14? > > ... > >> LaTeX users are primarily >> scientists who write scientific texts. In such text one ALWAYS >> refers to equations by numbers, and not by any peculiar labels. > > Reference by numbers is used in the printout, but reference by label is used > in all LaTeX source documents. > > In the printed text, I usually use a description of the formula + the > reference number so that the reader can look it up if required but generally > does not need to: > > The incident radiation is absorbed and distributes in the sensor layer > by means of heat conduction (Equations [15] and [16]) resulting in a > time-dependent temperature field T(\xyz,t). > >>> Still, making up a label isn't that hard, and it can make it easier >>> to remeber which equation you want to reference later. You can >>> of course just use numbers if you wish. > >> Well, yes and no. If I use my own labels, like >> E1, E2, E3 etc., then I am in trouble when I need to add something >> between E1 and E2, let's say. The problem is that user-defined labels >> are not automatically updated, whereas the real equation numbers are. >> Hence, I have a mess in which labels are in no clear relation to >> the numbers. > > But IMO, the even bigger problem is, if you insert a new formula between > E1 and E2 but continue to use E15 for new references to the "heat > equation" (or whatever) which is now E16!!! > > >> So, in conclusion, I daresay the LaTeX/LyX system for equation numbering >> needs a reasonable revision. If there are any LyX programmers out there, >> please do something about this!!! I daresay that all of this would be much easier if LyX had a _graphical_ equation browser, built in to the Outline tool. By default, equations would be organized by section, subsection, etc., so that you could in most cases find the equation that you want to reference by the most natural way--clicking on the section that you recall it being in, seeing a rendering of the equations in a scrollable list, then clicking once to insert the reference at the cursor location. The rendered equation (in the list) would still be immediately recognizable in most cases even if only a part of it were visible (without expanding the Outline window a lot). Of course, the graphical equation browser would also be available in the existing equation list in the Outline. And somewhat separately, it would sometimes be nice to have multiple instances of the Outline so that one would not have to switch between list types as often. Jerry > > I dare to say that the label/reference system is one of the main > advantages of LaTeX (and LyX) for scientific writing. It may be more > complicated to begin with but that effort pays as soon as you write more > than 10 equations in one paper, say. > > Günter >
