GETTING STARTED PRIMERS

Building Math Expressions

Click to position the red crosshair and type the following examples. Pay particular attention to what happens when you press the spacebar. The spacebar moves you out of the denominator of a fraction. As you type the examples below, watch where the blue Math editing lines move as you press the spacebar.
Example 1 Type:
1/2 [Spacebar] +2

See:

1 2

+2

When you are in an exponent and you want to continue entering more of the expression, you use the spacebar to move down from the exponent.
Example 2 Type:
x^2 [Spacebar] +2x+1

See:

x + 2x + 1

Practice Entering an Expression Type:

3/4 [Spacebar] +8/9

See:

3 8 + 4 9

Try it!

Type:
2x^3 [Spacebar] -3x^2 [Spacebar] +x-1

See:

2x 3x + x 1

Try it!
Type:
\a-1 [Spacebar] [Spacebar] + a

See:

a1+a

Try it!

Tip: You might need to press the spacebar two or more times to get to the right position in the expression before you can continue typing.
1

Building Mathematical Expressions

Type:
\3/4 [Spacebar] +1/2 [Spacebar][Spacebar][Spacebar] /6

See:

3 1 + 4 2 6

Type:
x+6[Spacebar]*(x^3[Spacebar]-1)

See:

( x + 6) x 1

The exponent operator in Mathcad is called a sticky operator because your keystrokes stick to the exponent position until you specifically move back to the baseline of the expression by pressing the spacebar. Other sticky operators include square roots, subscripts, and division.
Using the Calculator Toolbar

To use the Calculator toolbar in conjunction with the Resources window, position it over to the far left in your Worksheet window. Then bring your Resources window back up to make it the "active" window. It helps to position your Worksheet window on the left and the Resources window on the right so you can see both. With your Calculator toolbar next to the Resources window and your Resources window active:
Click and type:
2 r^2 [Spacebar] - 4 r

See:

2 r 4 r

Try it! Note: Click in the equation above and notice the multiply signs between each character. These implicit multiplication signs are hidden for display but show that the numbers and variables are multiplied.

Building Mathematical Expressions

Click and type:

1 [Tab] 2 [Tab] 3 [Spacebar] +5/8

See:

5 2 + 3 8

Try it!

Tip: If you select an operator, such as the mixed number operator, by clicking a button on the Calculator toolbar, you can use the Tab key to move from one placeholder to another.
See:

Click and type:

x-1 [Spacebar] [Spacebar] * x+2 [Spacebar] [Spacebar] [Spacebar] /x+4

( x 1) ( x + 2) x+4

Try it!

Note: Click in the equations to the right to see the hidden multiplication signs between the sets of parentheses.
Getting a Result Click and type:
8 [Tab] 3 =

See:

8=2

Try it!

Tip: To get a result, you can press equal [=] anywhere the blue editing lines are in a numeric expression.

Click and type:

1000 [Spacebar] 10000 =

See:

log ( 1000) log ( 10000)

Try it!

Building Mathematical Expressions

If You Make a Mistake

Sometimes you may type the wrong number or letter. To fix your mistake, use the Undo and Redo arrow buttons or choose Undo from the Edit menu. The next lesson shows you how to edit a math expression. To go to the next topic, go back into the Resources window and press the Next Topic arrow button on the toolbar.

Building Mathematical Expressions