How to Add Math Formulas to LibreOffice Impress

Integrating mathematical equations into LibreOffice Impress allows presenters to display clean, scalable, and accurately formatted formulas alongside presentation content. This guide explains how to create native LibreOffice Math formula objects directly within Impress slides, import existing formula files, and edit mathematical expressions for optimal slide formatting.

Creating and Inserting a New Math Formula

LibreOffice Impress includes a built-in integration with LibreOffice Math using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE).

  1. Open your presentation in LibreOffice Impress and select the slide where you want the formula to appear.
  2. Click on Insert in the top menu bar.
  3. Hover over Object and select Formula Object (or OLE Object > Formula depending on your LibreOffice version).
  4. The LibreOffice Math interface will appear at the bottom of the screen with an equation editor pane, and a placeholder box will appear on the active slide.
  5. Type your mathematical markup into the lower equation pane or select symbols from the Elements dock (for example, type sqrt{a^2 + b^2} = c or %sigma = {F} over {A}).
  6. Click anywhere outside the formula box on the slide to exit the equation editor and embed the object.

Inserting an Existing LibreOffice Math File

If you have already created and saved a formula as an .odf (OpenDocument Formula) file in LibreOffice Math, you can import it directly onto a slide:

  1. Navigate to the desired slide.
  2. Go to Insert > Object > OLE Object…
  3. In the dialog box, select Create from file.
  4. Click Search…, locate your .odf formula file, and click Open.
  5. Click OK to insert the formula onto the slide.

Editing and Formatting Math Objects in Impress

Once a formula is on the slide, it acts as an embedded object that can be moved, resized, or modified at any time: