How to Type Mathematics and Science

A.A. Gibb was Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Calgary.

This British manual deals in detail with: skills of the typist and features of the typewriter; the typing of mathematical symbols and expressions in arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, vectors, and matrices; SI units; setting out reactions, bond structures, and molecular chain structures in chemistry; mathematical and engineering diagrams; graphs and histograms. In the section “Manuscript into Typescript,” useful suggestions are given regarding typewriters, approach, and matters of style.

This is a manual that has been needed for a long time. Although several manuals exist which give requirements for the typing of articles, theses, essays, etc., in general they lack specificity in dealing with the problems of typing mathematical and scientific material. In its step-by-step approach, this booklet goes a long way toward closing that gap; it should be useful both to authors preparing such manuscripts and to those who type them.

No mention is made of word processing or of the related software systems that have been produced recently to deal more powerfully with mathematical and scientific materials. Although such systems may soon make the conventional typewriter obsolete in larger units where technical typing and printing is done, this does not negate the usefulness of the manual.