How to get the plimsoll symbol into the Word equation editor?

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Does anyone know how to get the plimsoll symbol in Word, in plain text as
well as in the equation editor? The plimsoll symbol is used in thermodynamic
equations, but I can't find it in any of the fonts available.
 
Have you tried Arial Unicode MS or Lucida Sans Unicode?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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For starters, I had to look up "plimsoll symbol" because, despite 30 years
of experience in editing science textbooks, I'd never heard of it. It turns
out to be an adaptation of a symbol invented by Samuel Plimsoll to show the
proper waterline on cargo ships. It's a circle with a horizontal line
through it, extending on both sides.

Neither Arial Unicode MS nor Lucida Sans Unicode contains exactly that
symbol. Arial has one with a vertical line (character 233D) and ones with
both diagonals (2300 and 2349), but not a horizontal line.

You can make one with an EQ \o field that overlays a circle (Arial Unicode
character 25CB) with an em dash. The dash will need to be raised by 1 pt or
1.5 pt, depending on the font size. (See
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/wordfaqs/Overbar.htm for details.)
 
Further to this, the field workaround will work only in regular text. I
don't think there's any way to get it in Equatin Editor unless you can
locate a font that has the symbol as a single character. You might try
MathType (www.mathtype.com), which comes with a few fonts of its own.

The source I found that explained what a plimsoll symbol means in
thermodynamics also indicated that a degree symbol is used for the same
purpose. That symbol is easily available in both Equation Editor and plain
text, so you might consider using it instead.
 
I knew what the symbol was and could have sworn I'd seen it in Arial Unicode
MS. I did find a source giving the Unicode glyph number for it (029B5;
⦵ in SGML). Even if this is interpreted as 29B5, Arial Unicode jumps
from 27BE to 3000, so no joy there. Sorry for the bum steer.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Does anyone know how to get the plimsoll symbol in Word, in plain
text as well as in the equation editor? The plimsoll symbol is used
in thermodynamic equations, but I can't find it in any of the fonts
available.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there is more than one font where the symbol exists, but I found it
in a font named ESSTIXFive. The ESSTIX fonts were created by Elsevier
Science, Netherlands, but I all links I found to them on Google weren't
valid. I know the ESSTIX fonts are free, and are included with the Amaya
browser. Amaya is available free from the W3C web site at
http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/BinDist.html.

As to how to use it in Equation Editor, you can't. However, Jay mentioned
MathType, which allows you to access any font on your computer (via the
Insert Symbol dialog in the Edit menu). I'd suggest downloading & installing
Amaya, which would also install the ESSTIX fonts, and also downloading and
installing the evaluation version of MathType (avaliable at the link in my
sig). If you choose not to buy MathType during the evaluation period, the
feature that allows you to use this font will be disabled after 30 days.

--
Bob Mathews bobm at dessci.com
Director of Training
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
 
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