Greek letters can be entered in Derive by clicking on the Greek Symbol Toolbar or by using a Greek keyboard, if available.  Alternatively, they can be entered by typing the Latin equivalent names Alpha, Beta... , Omega, alpha, beta... , omega.  There is one exception to this convention:  pi is interpreted as the mathematical constant ð (3.1415...).  Thus there is no Latin equivalent name for the lower case Greek letter ð; however, it can be entered as Ctrl+Backspace 03C0.


Built-in functions having Greek letter names are entered in all capital letters (for example, GAMMA for the Gamma function and ZETA for the Riemann zeta function).  Note that Greek letters entered in all capital letters that are not built-in functions are interpreted as products (for example, BETA is interpreted as b*e*t*a).


Keyboards installed by the local version of Windows are all functional.  Keyboard shortcuts peculiar to some versions of the OS can also be used.  For example, while editing a Derive text object in Windows XP, the Unicode character with hexadecimal value $nnnn can be entered as nnnn Alt+X. 


Derive provides an escape sequence for the occasional entry of isolated characters on the Expression Entry Line.  The Unicode character with hexadecimal value $nnnn can be entered as Ctrl+Backspace nnnn.  For example, the summation symbol, entered by typing Ctrl+Backspace 2211, looks like 2211 on the Expression Entry Line and is displayed as Ó in the algebra window.  In an ASCII mth file, the summation symbol is saved as 2211, where  is the Delete Control Character 127 (7F in hex). 


Users should be aware of the behavior of some spacing characters.  On some European keyboards, a space is needed after ^ circumflex, ` grave, and ~ tilde characters, if they are not be turned into a diacritic mark.  For example to raise x to the power of a, one must type

x circumflex space a


Other Derive UnicodeDerive_Unicode topics

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