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Peggy Lucero wonders: <<I need to enter into a WORD 2002 document a
definition of N (squared) diagram. I don't know how to get to the raised 2
in WORD.>>
As a general rule, you're looking to "superscript" (super = above, script =
the line of text) some character, and you can do this by selecting the
character, opening the Format menu, choosing Font, then choosing Superscript
from the checkboxes. If, like me, you dislike mousing, the keyboard shortcut
is Control-Shift-= (mnemonic: this gives you the + sign, and you're "adding"
to the height of the character above the baseline).
Subscripts (sub = below) are basically the same, but use Control-= sign
(Mnemonic: equals is "under" the + sign, thus move under the line of text).
Both font changes act as toggles: if you don't select text before you use
them, any new text you type in the same line or paragraph will also be
superscripted or subscripted.
There's a problem with using super and subscripts, however: because they're
manually applied formatting, they can disappear if you reapply a paragraph
style to a paragraph containing the subscripts, or if you use the
Control-Spacebar shortcut to remove extraneous formatting from a selection
of text.
If that's likely to happen often, it makes more sense to use the special
characters available in most Windows fonts for superscript 2 and 3: In Word,
open the Insert menu, select Symbol, then choose "normal text" or whatever
the Word 2002 equivalent is. (You can also choose the current font, but
choosing "any font" works better because it will survive a font change.) You
can then insert both as special characters. In any Windows software, you can
also insert them from the keyboard: Alt-0178 for 2 and Alt-0179 for 3. (Hold
down either Alt key and type the four numbers _on the numeric keypad_.)
Unfortunately, these characters may not transfer successfully to other
operating systems because of mismatches between the extended character set,
so you'll need to test the transfer if you want a bulletproof solution.
--Geoff Hart, ghart -at- [delete]videotron -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."--Bjarne Stroustrup (originator of C++ programming language)
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