Template Basics

Equation templates are the building blocks out of which equations are constructed in the MathFlow editor. Each template represents some common mathematical notational pattern, such as a fraction. Most templates are self-explanatory, and the remaining handful are straightforward once you know what they do. The less obvious templates are all explained below.

The most common templates usually can be inserted in three ways: from the toolbar, using a keyboard shortcut, or from the Insert Menu. Many of the less common templates must be inserted using the toolbar. However, action templates for interactive equations, and templates for matrices of unusual dimensions can only be inserted by using the Insert Menu. See Keyboard Input: Template Shortcuts for the list of templates that can be entered using keyboard shortcuts.

Regardless of the method used to insert a template, it will appear at the current cursor location. By default, the cursor will automatically move to the first empty slot in the newly inserted template. Hitting the Tab key will cycle the cursor through all the open template slots in the equation.

Template Wrapping

In many cases, it is convenient to "wrap" a template around an existing expression. For example, perhaps you have already entered x+y when you realize it should be the numerator of a fraction. Rather than cutting x+y to the clipboard, inserting a fraction template, and pasting from the clipboard to the numerator, you can combine this into a single step by "wrapping" the template around x+y.

To do this, just select x+y, and then insert the fraction template. The selected expression will automatically be placed in the first open slot in the template. All templates have a "first" slot for the purposes of wrapping. Generally this is the left-most slot, but in cases where some other slot is clearly the dominant slot, the dominant slot is used.