# Equations with only text in them

I would like to include equations in my article which have only text in them (in some cases there may be a little math) so that it keeps proper formatting. I tried using \mbox but then the text is so big that it is going out of the line. How do I include text in this way so that all formatting is preserved.

$$\label{key} The product of two complex numbers is given by the vector whose angle is the sum of the angles of the two complex numbers and whose magnitude is the product of the magnitudes of the$$


Thanks

• \text{} from amsmath – LaRiFaRi Jul 21 '14 at 12:18
• Providing an example of what you are looking for would be helpful. – Steven B. Segletes Jul 21 '14 at 12:19
• @StevenB.Segletes: I have added the same. – Shahab Jul 21 '14 at 12:26
• Please always make your code sections complete documents, so that people can run them to see the result (see the code in the answer) – David Carlisle Jul 21 '14 at 13:18

You can use the \text{}-command with amsmath-package or \parbox{width}{text} To get a newline.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
$$\label{key} \parbox{0.9\textwidth}{The product of two complex numbers is given by the vector whose angle is the sum of the angles of the two complex numbers and whose magnitude is the product of the magnitudes of the}$$
\end{document}

• \text is useless. – egreg Jul 21 '14 at 13:35
• @greg Unnecessary would be more accurate:) Certainly, \text is useful with shorter bits of text. – Andrew Jul 21 '14 at 13:47
• @Andrew -- in this case, \text is useless, because among other things, it's supposed to "follow" the size and style of the surrounding text. \parbox disables/overrides both those goals. size isn't a problem here, but if the equation is in a theorem, chances are the text should appear in italic, and that would be a problem that would have to be addressed manually. – barbara beeton Jul 21 '14 at 15:41
• @barbarabeeton I agree...I was partly being pedantic (egreg's comment is unqualified) and partly trying to be funny (my humour is often not appreciated:) – Andrew Jul 21 '14 at 21:44