8.5. OpenOffice.org Draw and Math

8.5.1. OpenOffice.Org Draw

OpenOffice.org includes a drawing program for the creation of vector graphics. It can be accessed from inside other applications in the OpenOffice.org suite or as a separate application.

To open OpenOffice.org Draw from another application:

  1. Go to File => Object => OLE Object.

  2. When the Insert OLE Object window opens, select the Create new from file radio button, highlight OpenOffice.org Draw, and click OK.

  3. OpenOffice.org Draw opens as a frame inside your document.

  4. Create your drawing using the tools along the left-most toolbar.

  5. When finished, click on your document outside of the drawing frame. The drawing is finished and inserted in your document.

To create a drawing with OpenOffice.org Draw:

  1. Start the application by going to Applications => Office => OpenOffice.org Draw, entering oodraw from a shell prompt, or inserting a drawing from another application as described above.

  2. Select a tool from the Main Toolbar by clicking on it once.

  3. Select a variant of the tool from the list by clicking on it once.

  4. Move your mouse pointer to the blank page and use the drawing tool.

8.5.2. OpenOffice.org Math

OpenOffice.org Math is a useful tool for creating properly formatted functions to import for display in any of the OpenOffice.org applications. Note that these functions cannot be imported to OpenOffice.org Calc for evaluation.

To create a function:

  1. Open OpenOffice.org Math by going to Applications => Office => OpenOffice.org Math, entering oomath from a shell prompt, or inserting it as an OLE Object as described for OpenOffice.org Draw.

  2. Select a type of function from the top half of the Selection window.

  3. Select one of the functions from the bottom half of the Selection window.

  4. The bottom pane of the main window contains the code for your selection. The variables of the function are represented by the symbols ?>.

  5. Replace the boxes with variables by deleting the ?> symbols and replacing them with text.

  6. Update the display screen by clicking inside it.

  7. To nest selections, use parentheses. OpenOffice.org Draw uses the same order of operations as algebra.