## Forum archive 2000-2006

### Zbigniew Fiedorowicz - problem text formatting question

by Arnold Pizer -
Number of replies: 0
 problem text formatting question topic started 2/2/2001; 3:24:14 PMlast post 2/2/2001; 10:11:39 PM
 Zbigniew Fiedorowicz - problem text formatting question  2/2/2001; 3:24:14 PM (reads: 1062, responses: 1) It seems in the various PG TEXT constructs, expressions like + -2 get simplified to -2. Does this mean I never have to worry about the signs of PERL variables interpolated into mathematical expressions in the problem text? Eg. x - $a y^2 will never come out looking like x - -5 y^2? This behavior doesn't seem to be documented in the PG documentation. Zig <| Post or View Comments |>  Michael Gage - Re: problem text formatting question 2/2/2001; 10:11:39 PM (reads: 1318, responses: 0) A function called FEQ (for Format EQuations) performs these operations. This subroutine is always called to cleanup the formulas within math mode $$...$$ and display mode $...$ portions of the text. It is not called outside these regions of the BEGIN_TEXT ...END_TEXT construction. So, $a = -4;BEGIN_TEXT - \$a becomes - -4 but $$- a$$ will become 4END_TEXT I've updated the page to make some of this information more explicit. Thanks. -- Mike <| Post or View Comments |>