Mathematical Notation in Notebooks

If you use the notebook front end for the Wolfram Language, then you can enter some of the operations discussed here in special ways.

Special and ordinary ways to enter mathematical operations in notebooks.

This is one of the standard palettes for entering mathematical operations. When you click a button in the palette, the form shown in the button is inserted into your notebook, with the black square replaced by whatever you had selected in the notebook.

Ways to enter special notations on a standard English-language keyboard.

You can enter an integral like this. Be sure to use the special differential d entered as Esc dd Esc, not just an ordinary d:

∫(x^n) \[DifferentialD]x

Here is the actual key sequence you type to get the input:

Esc int Esc x Ctrl+^ n Ctrl+Space Esc dd Esc x

When entering a sum, product or integral that has limits, you can create the first limit using the standard control sequences for subscripts, superscripts, underscripts, or overscripts. However, you must use Ctrl+% to create the second limit.

You can enter a sum like this:

(∑_(x=0)^n)x

Here is the actual key sequence you type to get the input:

Esc sum Esc Ctrl+= x=0 Ctrl+% n Ctrl+Space x