Viewing equations

[DMB]

I'm in the process of reading a scientific book with embedded equations. The equations are faint and tiny and I have enormous difficulty reading them. So far I can mentally fill in most of the details I can't see properly, but I am worried that as the book progresses I shall get lost.

I tried changing the text size, but it didn't affect the size of the equations. I assume they may be in some format like pdf.

Any suggestions?

[max99]

Originally Posted by DMB

I'm in the process of reading a scientific book with embedded equations. The equations are faint and tiny and I have enormous difficulty reading them. So far I can mentally fill in most of the details I can't see properly, but I am worried that as the book progresses I shall get lost.

I tried changing the text size, but it didn't affect the size of the equations. I assume they may be in some format like pdf.

Any suggestions?

i share your frustration. this seems to be a major limitation with current e-ink platforms, including kindle.

the equations are being rendered as bitmaps because the on-board character sets can't display them properly. if you convert a wiki article over to kindle it never gets the equations correct.

my only suggestion is to use PDF....that's why i opted for the larger kindle DX, i knew i'd be forced into reading lots of PDFs for scientific articles.

[DMB]

So I should transform it from mobi to pdf?

[TimW]

Originally Posted by DMB

I'm in the process of reading a scientific book with embedded equations. The equations are faint and tiny and I have enormous difficulty reading them. So far I can mentally fill in most of the details I can't see properly, but I am worried that as the book progresses I shall get lost.

I tried changing the text size, but it didn't affect the size of the equations. I assume they may be in some format like pdf.

Any suggestions?

Have you tried using the Kindle for PC/Mac applications? Assuming the book has DRM, that's the only way I can see increasing the magnification.

[kranu]

Yes, transforming from Mobi to PDF would allow you to zoom into the equations, but it would be quite inconvenient to zoom into each equation =/

[wallcraft]

I agree with max99 that the equations are almost certainly images. You can magnify the image, although this might just produce a pixelated mess. It is worth trying. From the manual:

Increasing the Size of a Picture
If you’d like to see a larger size of a picture or image you encounter in your reading material, simply follow these steps to zoom temporarily on the image.
1. Use the 5-way controller to position the cursor over the picture.
2. An image of a magnifying glass with a plus sign will appear on top of the picture.
3. Press the 5-way to zoom the image. You will see a expanded view of the picture that rotates if necessary to maximize the use of the display.
4. Press the 5-way (or any key or button, except the Home button) to return to your content.

Rotating to landscape might also automatically magnify the image, depending on how it is defined in the ebook.

[DMB]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I haven't been reading it anyway the past couple of days or so because I've been a bit busy.