Hello Gerrit, Gerrit wrote: > I always wonder why I can, if I write a formula in math mode, write > latin letters (b, g etc.) as they are but have to write out greek > letters like \alpha or \rho. > > Wouldn’t it be nice if I could write: > > $$ a^3 \cdot ψ \cdot Ω = ∞ $$ ? > > Or maybe even further: > > $$ a³ ∙ ψ ∙ Ω = ∞ $$ > > Well, this would maybe not really be an advantage in typing (I think, > for most people it is easier to write \Omega rather than copy and > pasting Ω,)
With a good keyboard layout, one can have most mathematical symbol at
hand; on mine (the Neo layout¹) I have all greek characters as well as
∏, ∑, ∫ and many others …
> but rather that the Tex Editor (if you use one) would
> automatically convert \Omega to Ω, so that the Tex code is easier to
> read. Of course, some stuff you cannot make easier (\frac etc), but for
> other symbols and characters, it would be nice if one could just /read
> /them in the code.
>
> I think, Xetex would then just need a mapping table converting Ω to
> \Omega before compiling.
>
> What do you think about that?
There is the unicode-math package that provides just what you ask for.
You need a unicode-encoded OpenType font, and there you go, e.g.:
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{XITS-math}
\begin{document}
$∫ α = β²$
\end{document}
This works with a TeXlive2010 and LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX. Unfortunately,
however, the freely available math fonts are, in my personal opinion,
not as beautiful as the cmr fonts …
Cheers
Arno
¹http://neo-layout.org/ , german only, sorry …
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