Math formatting "Pro tips" edition: Boxing answers! - "?"
1 Answer
I want to share a cool technique I plan on using in my answers from now on.
I've been addicted to boxing formulas and solutions ever since I was in secondary school, so I figure it was about time to start doing it on Socratic as well.
So here's what I came up with for doing that. Let's say I want to box something classic like
#ax^2 + bx + c = 0#
The two side lines are covered by the vertical line symbol,
- without hashtags
| ax^2 + bx + c = 0 |
- with hashtags
#| ax^2 + bx + c = 0 |#
The bottom line is covered by the underline function, ul(), which looks like this
- without hashtags
ul(ax^2 + bx + c = 0)
- with hashtags
#ul(ax^2 + bx + c = 0)#
The top line is covered by the bar() function, which looks like this
- without hashtags
bar(ax^2 + bx + c = 0)
- with hashtags
#bar(ax^2 + bx + c = 0)#
So basically all you have to do is put all these three things together to get
- without hashtags
bar( ul( | ax^2 + bx + c = 0 | ))
- with hashtags
# bar( ul( | ax^2 + bx + c = 0 |)) #
And there you have it, a boxed answer!
Now, if you bring color into the mix, things can get really interesting. To write all that in color simply write it in a color()() function
- without hashtags
color(green)(bar( ul( | ax^2 + bx + c = 0 | )))
- with hashtags
#color(green)(bar( ul( | ax^2 + bx + c = 0 |)))#
You can get creative with it, too. Let's say that you want to have a black frame and a blue text. You can write
- without hashtags
bar( ul( | color(blue)( (2pi)/7 ) | ))
- with hashtags
#bar(ul(|color(blue)( (2pi)/7 )| ))#
Here's a tricky one. Get the text black and the frame red, for example. To do that, you will have to use color(black)() to break the red text.
- without hashtags
color(red)( bar( ul( | color(black)((2pi)/7) | ))
- with hashtags
#color(red)( bar( ul( | color(black)((2pi)/7) | ))#
Pretty cool, right? :D
ADDENDUM - CREATING A BIT OF SPACE
Notice that the outline of the box is really close to the text. If you want to enlarge the box, you can use this cool trick.
- without hashtags
color(red)( bar( ul( | color(white)(a/a) color(black)( ax^2 + bx + c = 0 ) color(white)(a/a) | )))
- with hashtags
#color(red)( bar(ul(|color(white)(a/a)color(black)( ax^2 + bx + c = 0) color(white)(a/a)| )))#
Here I used color(white)(a/a) to create some space between the edges of the box and the text.
Here's how that would look with color(green)(a/a)
- without hashtags
color(red)( bar( ul( | color(green)(a/a) color(black)( ax^2 + bx + c = 0 ) color(green)(a/a) | )))
- with hashtags
#color(red)(bar( ul( |color(green)(a/a)color(black)( ax^2 + bx + c = 0) color(green)(a/a)| )))#