Scientific Word, Scientific
Workplace
and Scientific Notebook
N E W S
Now available: on-line self-paced videos
to introduce you to Scientific WorkPlace!
Students on Polaris have access to Scientific WorkPlace!
What is Scientific Word?
-
Scientific Word is a word-processing
program for creating documents with scientific content such as equations.
-
Scientific Word combines the
quality of LaTeX output with the ease-of-use of a word-processor.
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Scientific Word internally uses LaTeX to store and
format your documents.
-
However, Scientific Word shields
you from LaTeX behind a WYSIWYG interface.
-
Please note: apart from the similarity in their names, there
is no relation between MacKichan's Scientific Word
and Microsoft's Word program.
What is Scientific WorkPlace?
-
Scientific Workplace is the
same as Scientific Word, except that it uses
Maple to let you perform mathematical
and graphing operations on the equations in your document.
-
Maple is built right
in to Scientific Workplace.
What is Scientific Notebook?
-
Scientific Notebook is a stripped-down
version of Scientific Workplace that allows
only a limited set of style sheets.
-
Scientific Notebook does its
own formatting without relying on a LATEX processor so the results
are not as polished.
| Scientific Word |
| +
Maple |
| Scientific WorkPlace |
| - LaTeX processor |
| Scientific Notebook |
User Interface:
The user interface is the same for all three programs.
Here is a screen shot of Scientific Notebook:
File Format:
The file format is the same for all three programs, namely
LATEX (.tex).
Lest we forget how ugly that looks:
Output Appearance:
Scientific Word and Scientific
Workplace come with a LATEX processor and previewer to produce
typeset quality mathematical output.
Lest we forget how beautiful that looks:
Both these programs, as well as Scientific
Notebook, can do their own formatting which is reasonably good:
Try out these programs:
-
Go to the MacKichan web site (www.MacKichan.com)
where you can download a time-locked copy of Scientific
Notebook.
-
This will give you a reasonable idea of the operations of
Scientific Word and Scientific
WorkPlace, with the exception of LATEX formatting and
previewing.
-
So please contact Colin
Campbell in IST to arrange a demonstration of this or any other aspect
of these programs.
Availability at UW:
- The University has a site license for Scientific WorkPlace for Windows
and Macintosh. The software is available in the CHIP (MC 1052) and costs $225.
It may be only be installed on university-owned computers, or in the homes of
faculty and staff.
- Students can use Scientific WorkPlace on Polaris at no cost.
The procedure is as follows:
- Click on [Start] [Run]. Type in: Q:\gen\swp30\setup\install.bat
- You will be promted with:
"Will you be working with Scientific Workplace on more than
one workstation[Y,N]?"
- If you reply Y, it will copy 5.5 Megabytes of fonts to your N drive,
which you may not have room for.
- If you reply N, it will copy the files to the F disk of the workstation
you are on, and you will have to remember to run this command again if you
move to another workstation.
- After the files are copied, it will say:
"The next time you start Windows 95 you should have the program and
fonts available for use."
- Logoff and back on again.
- Start Scientific WorkPlace, by clicking on:
[Start] [Programs] [Scientific WorkPlace] [Scientific WorkPlace 3.0]
- Faculty and staff may use Scientific WorkPlace on Polaris for a fee.
Please contact
Colin Campbell for further information.
- The manual is available on the Windows version of the CD-ROM and also
on the web.
-
Self-paced videos are available
on the web to introduce you to using Scientific WorkPlace to create
scientific documents.
(We suggest you print the "0-Tutorial.doc" file (Word) and have it handy while
going through the videos. You can also launch the videos from this file.)
UW Thesis Template
The following files may be used to create a thesis. It is your responsibility
to ensure that the output conforms to UW's thesis requirements and those of
your department:
- thesis.tex. Main document.
Open in Scientific WorkPlace. Customize the Front Matter.
Insert subdocuments for each of your chapters. (See HELP
for tips on inserting appendices and other appendix operations.)
Notes on using Tables
Notes on using BibTeX
- sample.bib. Sample BibTeX
bibliographic database. Edit using the BibDB program
that comes with Scientific WorkPlace (or a text editor).
Note: It is your responsibility to ensure that this template and your
thesis follow
UW Graduate Thesis Regulations, which change from time to time without our
knowledge!
Tips and Tricks:
- Converting Word Documents to LaTeX
This document tells you how to convert all the Word text to LaTeX with one
command (rtf2ltx comes with SWP). It also explains how to convert
the Word equations to LaTeX, which unfortunately must be done one at a time
but is relatively painless and requires upgrading your Word equation editor
to the full-blown MathType program (which may be obtained from the CHIP
in MC 1052).
- Converting EndNotes (and other)
bibliographic databases to BibTeX
This document tells you how to convert bibliographic databases in EndNotes
(a popular program amongst Word users) to BibTeX format (a popular format
amongst Scientific WorkPlace and LaTeX users).
If you have the EndNotes program you can also convert other formats
(such as Reference Manager and ProCite) to BibTeX format (and other formats).