The Open Uni
I've sent a letter of protest (well an email anyway) about the way I'm expected to submit my assignments electronically in a file format that can be read by Word 2003.

This may well be acceptible for sociology students and other essay writers, but not with physics which consists of equations and the odd definition. It's such a pain in the arse that I've taken to doing it on paper, scanning it in and inserting it as an image.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 15:42, 19 replies)

There is a simpler way.
Screenshot what you're doing and paste it in. Makes the documents huge, but quicker than doing it by hand and scanning it.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:04, closed)

Probably not
A lot of physics problems are very quick to do on paper, but would take aaages in pretty much any program, particularly as there are some variables that have odd greek symbols and so on.

Edit: Half the time you're adding bits in and writing little notes as you go along to remind yourself what to do next, and that sort of thing is hard to recreate too.
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:09, closed)

Oh right
I thought there was some kind of specialised program for it or something.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:13, closed)

There are a few
But they tend to be more for mathematical modelling and so forth - applications where you can group stuff together to create your own little functions and there's not such a requirement to show how you arrived there. But I don't think you'll find any serious physicist or mathematician who doesn't prefer to do their calculations by hand.
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:18, closed)

Ah, oh well.
Or, you could use a graphics tablet and Photoshop?
( jim_bob can herd cats., Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:23, closed)

Theoretically
But now you're getting into the area where it's really not much slower to use a scanner.
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 17:52, closed)

Or....
Or, you could use a graphics tablet and Photoshop?

Or a graphics tablet and Word, you can draw straight into the document.
(GoodLord doesn't have time for sigs., Mon 15 Nov 2010, 18:03, closed)

I know what you men
I can imagine trying to put the calculations for the curl of some horrible function or the solution to a long differential equation into word 2003...
( MatJ LOOK, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 16:07, closed)

Not sure if it's supported in Word 03 but there's an add-in called Microsoft Equation?
(Wibblist Last said "Wibble" on, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 17:02, closed)

MS Equation editor
sucks donkey balls the size of planets though carbon nanotubes.
( speedyballbangpots, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 17:16, closed)

thats what the PITA is. Entering stuff on equation editor

( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 17:21, closed)

Try using latex (pronounced la-tec).

It's a mathematical typesetting program. A lot easier to use than word for mathematical documents. If you have windows try miktex as the compiler and techniccenter as an editor. For macs I think texshop, and for linux use kile.

Just google them if interested. I would very much recommend it.
(fibonacci_cunt cunt, cunt, cuntcunt, cuntcuntcunt,..., Thu 11 Nov 2010, 18:07, closed)

Latex is probably what the physicists want to use already.
What about asking if they'll accept PDF?
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Thu 11 Nov 2010, 18:22, closed)

^^
This, 100 times. Or more. Tex takes a bit of getting used to, but for pure type/equation-setting goodness it plain can't be beat.
(Large Hardon Collider Bah Bloody Humbug, Fri 12 Nov 2010, 1:01, closed)

It's very easy to learn

there's so much on the interwebs to help you. Such as the not so shoort guide to latex.
(fibonacci_cunt cunt, cunt, cuntcunt, cuntcuntcunt,..., Fri 12 Nov 2010, 14:14, closed)

This might be
because the anti-plagiarism software the OU use is only compatible with Word 2003.

But that's only a guess, because I have no idea what they use.

It could just be because the person who marks it likes to do it at home and refuses to buy a new version of Word when 2003 "works so well".
(goat thinks you're shit, Fri 12 Nov 2010, 0:37, closed)

Do sociology. Problem solved.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 12 Nov 2010, 5:50, closed)

Find the worst 'word 2003' readable format you can, and use that.
I'm thinking, send the whole thing as one giant bmp file. Word can open these, so it fits the requirements. It should also make massive file sizes, even more so if you use grid paper which is notoriously hard to compress. I think after a few 100mb submissions, whoever is running the course might see sense.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Fri 12 Nov 2010, 7:08, closed)

I like this...
Save it as Word95/2003 format for extra file instability/bloaty goodness
(GoodLord doesn't have time for sigs., Mon 15 Nov 2010, 18:05, closed)