Is there a way to declare a Math operation and your local to have Writer visually lay how it should look on a document (commas instead of dots in Germany as separator for decimal numbers)?
For example, something like div(en.USA, num(47, 596), 6, 10) would mean: “visually represent the division 47.596/6 in a base ten system” . . .
The visual layout of most Math operations differ. It there is no such thing, could you point out to me the documentation and some starting code I could use to start coding such a utility myself via the java UNO binding to Writer/open office?
Math uses a fixed set of operators and separators that are not localize-able.
Well, this is exactly what I am talking about. The thing is that I am a “multilingual” Math and Sciences teacher and students pay attention to visual artefacts. They don’t want to be bothered by “visual discrepancies” as they learn. I myself find quite annoying having to rewrite and adjust Math expressions, representations and the layout of their operations (it takes more time than the textual translations), even though I write my lesson plans in languages which all use Latin characters: German, English and Spanish. Imagine!, as Lennon sang, teachers who keep their lesson plans in synch in Tamil, German and Arabic!
Since I am not a visual person, I make lots of mistakes when I adjust the visual lay out of Math. I find especially annoying that at times I don’t even see what the problem is, but I do notice my students’ anxiety when they notice a comma where a dot should be …
This is a technical problem which could be solved through and through. I am willing to work on this. So, would you offer a longer answer and some guidance?
lbrtchx