# Displaying equations in a slide show

I'm trying to make a slide show with Mathematica, and the equations are being written in a pretty nasty looking font. I click the Display Equation environment, but the equations still look pretty blocky to me.

Is there a way I can get a nicer font for equations in slideshow?

• You should be able to highlight the equation and select any font installed on your computer using the Mathematica font selector – at least that's my experience with MMA 11.3 on macOS 10.14.3. – MassDefect Mar 20 at 16:24
• It's not clear what you mean by "blocky". Please give an example (screenshot). Note that not every font is suitable for equations, and I would not recommend changing the font of equations to an arbitrary one. – Szabolcs Mar 20 at 18:29
• If you want $\LaTeX$ quality, give MaTeX a try. – Szabolcs Mar 20 at 18:30
• I endorse Szabolcs' MaTeX... – David G. Stork Mar 21 at 2:52

The question you asked, how to represent mathematical expressions in MMA presentation, I find important. There is, however, very much to tell about it, and your question lacks a precision. It is not clear, for example, what do you want to achieve in your presentation. The possibilities span from drawing beautiful formulas to making original animations with the mathematical expressions. All these aims (and some others) one can flexibly achieve in several ways. Since you did not make clear, what are you after, I will give one example of a simple formula drawn in several ways and one of an animated one. Just try. You may later make your question more precise.

Here is a list of three different formula:

TraditionalForm[Style[Framed[
\!$$\*OverscriptBox[\(X$$, $$_$$]\) == HoldForm[1/n]*\!$$\*UnderoverscriptBox[\(\[Sum]$$, $$i = 1$$, $$n$$]
\*SubscriptBox[$$X$$, $$i$$]\), FrameMargins -> 15], FontFamily -> #,
FontSize -> 24, Bold]] & /@ {"Tahoma", "TimesNewRoman",
"Helvetica"}


They differ from one another by the frames, fonts and a few other small details. Each of them can be chosen and evaluated in the input cell. Then you may collapse or close the input cell and only leave the output cell visible. You can also think about centering the expression within the line, or whatever.

Another extreme case is dynamic accentuation.

Here is a function, Ac[expr] making accentuated expressions:

Ac[expr_] :=
DynamicModule[{c1 = 0},
EventHandler[
Dynamic[
If[c1 == 0,

Style[expr, Black, Plain, 22, Italic] // ExpressionCell,

Dynamic@If[Clock[1, 0.7, 2] < .5,

Style[expr, Gray, Plain, 22, Italic] // ExpressionCell,

Style[expr, RGBColor[0.8, 0, 0], Bold, 23, Italic]] //
ExpressionCell
]
],                                  \

{"MouseDown" :> (c1 = c1 /. {0 -> 1, 1 -> 0})}
]
];


and another function, P[expr] making plain ones:

Pl[expr_] := ExpressionCell[Style[expr, Black, Plain, 22, Italic]];


Evaluate these two functions and then evaluate this:

 Panel@Row[{"f=\[Integral]{" // Pl, " y(x)" // Ac, " + " // Pl,
"z(x)" // Ac, "}dx         (1)" // Pl}]


Then upon clicking on y(x) or z(x) with the mouse the expression you clicked on will change its color, blinking between red and gray, and finally will stay red. You will see this on the static image below

but try it dynamically in your notebook. To switch it back into black you need to click it once more. Clicking on another expression you can accentuate it in turn. Of course, you may change all parameters of the formula.

Have fun!

• I was going for something like the second static equation, one that looks a little like Latex. I'm still trying to get used to the scope of MMA. Thanks for your help! – user63552 Mar 21 at 16:43