[texhax] Interaction with Scientific Word Documents and basic LaTeX questions

[Philip Taylor (Webmaster, Ret'd)]

Dear Tom --  I know nothing about SW, but I may
be able to answer a couple of your more straightforward
questions :

> a.  What is the purpose of a backslash without an appended command?
> For example, I find them between all sentences as in this excerpt:
>
> TIPS are coupon bonds that have been issued by the U.S. government since
> 1997. \ They are currently auctioned at 5-, 10-, and 30-year maturities. \
> Unlike standard Treasury notes and bonds whose coupon and principal are
> fixed dollar payments, TIPS make payments proportional to the Consumer Price
> Index (CPI).
>
> I have never seen this before and wondered what purpose it serves.

The "appended command" is a space; thus the complete control
sequence is "\ ", which inserts a space.  The apparent intended
effect is to increase the inter-sentence spacing (there are other
ways of achieving this).
>
> b.  Does the following structure
>
> &=&
>
> serve to keep the = signs aligned in a multiline equation?

Yes.

Philip Taylor