Thursday, October 23, 2003, 8:49:29 AM, you wrote: TW> and why? if the math was needed to make the point TW> without spending twice the amount of words, why did they TW> think the readers would understand that fact at least TW> even if they didn't completely follow the math? sorry i TW> guess i just don't understand.
It was all our own inadequacy, having nothing to do with readers. We weren't collectively prepared to handle the level of math that Cary put in his book. Our tools weren't up to the task. We couldn't take Cary's equations from Word and build them in Frame, which is the tool our production people use for page layout. In the end, Cary had to supply many of the equations as graphics that we embedded into the text. Then there are all those Greek letters. We had to buy a new font for those, and I know buying a new font sounds simple, but it apparently brought some complication to someone, and the amount of people-time it took to push that font purchase through was quite substantial as well. Publishers aren't magical. They all optimize their tools, processes, and people for the types of book they most often publish. In our case, Cary's book came along and broke the model. I probably overstated the case a bit in my earlier note, but it is true that the level of math caused a fair bit of consternation. Let me point out though, that in the end we did what it took to keep the math intact and get the book out. We learned a lot in the process too. I know enough now that I'm sure the next such book will fly through the production process much more easily than this first one. Best regards, Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Join the Oracle-article list and receive one article on Oracle technologies per month by email. To join, visit http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/oracle-article, or send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include the word "subscribe" in either the subject or body. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Jonathan Gennick INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
