Shorthand for numbered equation environment

Question

Is there any shorthand for numbered equation environment?

Answer 1

If you use a package, which only numbers the referenced equations, there is no need for a distinction between a numbered and an unnumbered equation. This is possible with mathtools. If you always want to use the normal equation shorthand (like \[a + b = c\]), you can use the autonum package.

Answer 2

You can use a new command to start the environment and other to finish it, for example, \def\beq{\begin{equation}}.

Answer 3

I think using a lot of custom abbreviations is not good for the readability of your source code. Instead you should use a good editor which helps you with these kind of things. For example if you are a vim user, you can take a look at vim-latex, sometimes also called LaTeX-Suite. It is a great tool for writing LaTeX code and in particular, you just need to type in EEQ and it will immediatly replace it with

\begin{equation}

\end{equation}<++>

place the cursor inside of the environment and allow you to jump to the <++> marker after the environment with Ctrl+J.

I found this very comfortable. Of course for some other editors there are probably similar features.