Contribute - The Editor :: Homework Help and Answers :: Slader

## The Slader Solution Editor FAQ

1. Do not reproduce copyrighted material. This includes the exercise prompt from the textbook. This also includes parts or a whole solution from another copyrighted solution manual. Your solution must be your own original work.

2. Every solution needs a result and an explanation. Remember that users looking at your solutions may be confused. Be clear and detailed!

3. The editor writes math expressions in LaTeX, a math markup language. Every math expression needs to be surrounded by dollar signs ($x+5=3$). You can leave text outside of the dollar signs. Get an angry red x? That means your LaTeX has an error in it.

4. Are we missing a button for an operation that you need? For now, you can look it up on a web LaTeX resource. Email us at contributor@slader.com with what we should add to the editor.

Short answer: The editor renders LaTeX code. However, don't worry if you don't know what that is! Even if you think LaTeX is kinky synthetic rubber stuff, it's all right: just write as you would normally. Just remember to put dollar signs ("$") around math expressions. This would be an example of correct code: The area of a circle is$\pi r^{2}$. And this will almost certainly set our computers on fire: The area of a circle is \pi r^{2}. ### What if a solution already exists? If you can offer a better explanation, you should upload your solution! Users vote on the best solution for each problem. When your solution is voted up, you will receive the royalties. ### Why do I have to use the right side of the template? You can format the template any way you like (by using the rows/columns buttons on the top right of the editor), but we highly recommend the two-column layout. Write out the steps of the problem on the left and an explanation on the right. Assume the people reading your work are still learning the math involved, and be as clear as possible. Explanations are important because they are what will separate your solutions from others’ solutions. The best solution will gain the most revenue, and the “best” solution is frequently the one that is the easiest to understand. ### What’s the difference between the result and the explanation? The result (the bottom part of the template) is the back-of-the-book answer - what you would see if you flipped to the back of your textbook to check your work. The rest of the template is for your explanation. ### Why is there is an angry red X here? That means there's an error in your code. Just go through what you wrote and see if you have a misplaced dollar sign. Other common errors include a misplaced backslash (\) or a forgotten brace/bracket. If you are still having trouble, you can check your LaTeX on a parser like mathurl. ### You don’t have a button I need. Tell us here! Even if we don’t have a button for the operation you need yet, you can use the relevant LaTeX command to insert it. There are several LaTeX resources online than you can consult. ### I’ve finished adding a solution. Why hasn’t it showed up on the site? We have a team of trained moderators who check submitted solutions before they display. That way, we can make sure that the quality of submissions is high. Don’t worry - we have solutions up on the site soon after their submission. ### What are the minimum standards for submission? At the very least, you should have a one-sentence explanation (for very simple problems) and a result. We will not accept spam, bad LaTeX, or solutions written in languages other than English. If you would like to appeal a moderator solution, please email contributor@slader.com with the textbook, page number, and exercise number. ### Why doesn’t the rendered code look like what I wrote? Good question. It depends on what looks wrong with it. See if your problem is mentioned below. ### The editor ignores all my line breaks/returns/new lines! LaTeX is just designed like that, if you want to force a line break you need to put in a double backslash ("\\") at the end of the line. ### My math looks funky. Dollar signs! DOLLAR SIGNS! Put dollar signs around your math expressions! If you want to get super fancy with your code you can put double dollar signs ("$$") around your math expressions, which will put the expression on its own line and center it. Using LaTeX is like using HTML: you need to close your dollar signs. This is wrong: $x+5

This is right:

$x+5$

### What if I need to talk about money?

Need the $to actually display in your answer? You have to “escape” it like this: $ \

Confusing, isn’t it? The backslash before the second $tells the parser to ignore what comes directly after it. The parser skips right over the dollar sign and doesn’t freak out. So if you need to write$16.57, you would write

### I tried to write a table and it looks like a mess.

If you need to write a table, look up the LaTeX code for it. Using tabs and newlines won't work, and additionally will drive one or more of our moderators insane. There are many LaTeX resources available online.