Hi friends,
This morning I asked:
Does anyone know how to obtain the overlined X character in MS Word and MS Outlook. It is the character for the sample mean. My DOS editor in the 80's already provided means to define such a character (for the printer).
And I got many, many replies (more than gotten replies on statistical issues[;-). Most of them concern the equation editor in MS Word 2K, which is also present in MS Outlook 2K. That works (in several different ways), though the resulting character seems somewhat raised above the other characters; I'll have to experiment a little with that, I hope that succeeds. For the time being this is it. Most replies were quite brief, one was quite long. Several ones also pointed towards other (non-MS) software. I'll include the most interesting ones below. Thank you all very much!
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Don't use Word, use LaTeX!
\overline{x}
Keith
Dr. Keith M. Briggs
Senior Mathematician, Complexity Research, BT Exact
http://more.btexact.com/people/briggsk2/ (internet)
http://research.btexact.com/teralab/keithbriggs.html (BT intranet)
phone: +44(0)1473 work: 641 911 home: 610 517 fax: 642 161
mail: Keith Briggs, Polaris 134, Adastral Park, Martlesham, Suffolk IP5 3RE, UK
[Jim Groeneveld: thanks Keith, bound to MS.........]
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Dear Jim,
This was raised on the Edstat mailing list some time ago. You can
do so in Word 2000 (I don't know about Outlook) by selecting
Insert, Field...
entering the following string
eq X\d\ba8()\s\up12(_)
(paste it in from this message!) in the large field provided, and selecting
OK. This will give you your first X-bar at the current position in your
Word document. For the others, use cut-and-paste.
For further details, have a look at the Microsoft support article at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;211642 (accessed 8
March 2004)
Best wishes,
Malcolm Campbell
Malcolm Campbell, Lecturer in Statistics
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting
Coupland III Building, University of Manchester
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Phone: +44 (0)161 275 7005
Web: <http://www.nursing.teaching.man.ac.uk/staff/mcampbell/home.shtml>
Multilevel list owner: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[Jim Groeneveld: thank Malcolm, it works!]
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In word go to insert, symbol on the menus. Then there is an overlined small x in
the bookshelf symbol 4 font, it is the fifth symbol from the left on the forth
row. An overlined capital X is in the bookshelf symbol 5 font, fourth from right
top row.
Sarah.
--------------------------------------------
Sarah Vowler MSc
Medical Statistician
Centre for Applied Medical Statistics
Department of Public Health and Primary Care
[Jim Groeneveld: it seems I do not have that font!]
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<<...OLE_Obj...>>
Jim, you can get it from Insert -> Object -> Microsoft Equation Editor.
Alternatively I have stuck one in this email which you can copy and paste as
a temporary solution!
Regards, Graeme.
Graeme MacLennan
Statistician
Health Services Research Unit
University of Aberdeen
Drew Kay Wing
Polwarth Building
Foresterhill
Aberdeen AB25 2ZD
? +44 (0)1224 553487
? +44 (0)1224 663087
[log in to unmask]
[Jim Groeneveld: thanks Graeme, it seems your character has been lost!]
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This would not appear to be too trivial.
Try looking at the following links:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/hep-ex/papers/0208/0208028.pdf
http://www.wfu.edu/academics/romancelanguages/faq.htm
Best Regards,
Alex Edwards.
Edwards, Alex [[log in to unmask]]
[Jim Groeneveld: thanks Alex, quite original!]
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Hi Jim,
I've had a little look into MS Word for this. There's nothing in the
"Insert Symbol" repertoire. However, if you have installed the
"Equation editor" then you can "Insert -> Object -> Equation editor"
where you will find an option for "overbar template" (or words to
that effect). I managed to create an "X bar" (italic X with overbar)
using this, but not to make it go into the intended place in the
text; i.e. I typed
The sample mean is
and then tried to insert the "X bar" immediately after this using the
above technique. The result appeared in the line above what I had
typed; I could not move it into the right place. Finally I discovered
that by "right-clicking" on the equation, then selecting
"Equation object -> Convert" and unchecking the box "Float over
text" I could make it take its place in the text. All this took
10 minutes or so; I nearly gave up!
Also, I did not like the layout of the "X bar" which was produced:
the italic "X" protruded to the right of the overbar.
You may have better luck; or get better advice than I can apparently
give you.
This reinforces yet again a view which I can't help expressing:
If you need to make documents with any serious technical content
(especially equations), then don't use this software. It is
functionally inadequate, and such functionality as it has is not
easy to activate, and is very troublesome (as you yourself have
demonstrated by having to post to a mailing list about something
which ought to be sublimely simple, and which I have just had
a horribly tedious experience of).
If you are in a position to do so (and, in a corporate environment,
you may not be) then consider using something else for this kind
of purpose. Many people these days use TeX (or variants of it such
as LaTeX) for mathematical work. The results can be converted to
PDF format for transmission to people who need to read it -- even
Windows can run Acrobat Reader!
In my preferred software ("groff", which is basically good old
Unix troff updated), I would simply have typed
The sample mean is $X bar$
and it would all have come out right when formatted (the $...$
encloses text which constitutes an "equation description" which
the software interprets). As you can see, you hardly even have
to think about it since what you type is almost exactly what
you have running in your mind when you come to the equation.
The procedure in TeX/LaTeX is almost identical. You would type
The sample mean is $\bar X$
and it would be handled in the same way (and on the same principles).
If you want to find out more about TeX and relatives, have a look
at the book "Making TeX Work" by Norman Walsh (O'Reilly and
Associates, Inc., 1994; maybe there are later editions). In particular,
in the Chapter 1 section "What About troff?" (p. 14 in my edition)
you will find indications of why I prefer groff/troff ...
If you want to find out more about troff (especially groff) get
in touch with me later. Both TeX and groff can produce output
of highly polished professional quality, though their more
sophisticated features demand some learning from the user.
You may also like to consider "Desktop Publishing" software like
Adobe's PageMaker and Quark Express. These can also handle this
kind of thing properly, and they may be more acceptable in your
corporate environment (and indeed may already be present there).
But they cost money, while Tex/LaTeX/etc and groff are available
for free. However, I'm not a user of these packages, so cannot
comment on how easy/convenient they are to use for mathematical
work. I do know, though, that they produce results with professional
quality.
Sorry not to have cleanly solved your immediate problem, but I hope
these comments will prove useful.
Best wishes,
Ted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972
Date: 08-Mar-04 Time: 12:51:17
------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
[Jim Groeneveld: thank you Ted, the (MS) world is not perfect.........]
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Regards - Jim.
--
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Jim Groeneveld, MSc.
Biostatistician
Science Team
Vitatron B.V.
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