Stuff I often need and often forget, mainly related to the formula-editor

• Enter fn followed by F3 on an empty paragraph to create a numbered equation (2×1 table, formula on left, auto number of right)
• Alternatively, use a 2×1 table and do it manually

Source: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/FAQ/Formula/How_do_I_number_my_equations%3F

Precede the localised name with %, i.e.:

α φ υ ⇒ OOo in English:

%alpha %phi %upsilon

α φ υ ⇒ OOo in Spanish:

%alfa %fi %ípsilon

  Quirk: in Spanish “mu” (μ) must be written as %my (despite being an archaic/rare form)

Write the full name in uppercase

Α Φ Υ ⇒ OOo in English:

%ALPHA %PHI %UPSILON

Α Φ Υ ⇒ OOo in Spanish:

%ALFA %FI %ÍPSILON

• Option 0: (best looking, see unicode stuff)

  x "≟" y

  i.e. →[ «x “», «CTRL+Shift+U, 225f», «” y» ]←

Previously: (Source: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=90309)

• Option 1: In-editor typesetting:

  x "=" csup "?" y

  • Con: «?» is placed too high
• Option 2: OOoLatex:

  x \stackrel{?}{=} y

  or ¹⁾

  x \overset{?}{=} y

  • Con: Not editable, Worse font antialiasing/hinting

mline

lim csub {x toward infinity}

alignr left none
    stack {
        {Equation1} #
        {Equation2} #
        {Equation3}
    } right rbrace

Where alignr aligns the equations to the right, left none allows an unbalanced bracket and right rbrace adds a right angled bracket.

Source: Informático de Guardia via ElectroBuntu

See: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/FAQ/Formula/How_do_I_change_the_size_of_a_subformula%3F

Quick recap: (copy-pasted from the above link) There are five variants of the size-changing command:

• size 20 a typesets a with the font size 20 pt.
• size +5 a typesets a with current font size plus 5pt.
• size -5 a typesets a with current font size minus 5pt.
• size *1.5 a typesets a with current font size multiplied by 1.5.
• size /1.5 a typesets a with current font size divided by 1.5.

To write text that dowsn't display as a variable (in italics) use either “func” or double quotes (typographic double quotes are not recognised)

 func Hello func World

or

 "Hello World"

Most symbols are included in Unicode so they can be inserted through unicode codes in GNOME (CTRL+Shift+U, Unicode code point).
See Common Unicode Characters and Compose sequences.

Great (official) guide: OpenOffice.org Getting Started With Math (PDF)