www.phidot.org

Greetings -

As some of you have noticed the MARK book is getting a bit 'thick' - its currently ~650 pages in length, and by the time the next edition is rolled out (mid-June), it is likely to be 750-800 pages long.

One of the problems that arises because of the length is that it not only costs a fair bit to print it (printing 600-800 pages at high resolution will do a number on your toner cartridge), but if you make additional copies, and bind them (say, for a class), you'll quickly find this is pretty pricey (e.g., individual copies printed and bound locally here at Cornell work out to about $60 US per bound copy). Needless to say, this makes a 'free' book somewhat expensive - if in fact you want a hard copy.

The only practical solution is to try a couple of formatting options, to see if we can use paper more efficiently. One way to do this is to place two pages on a single piece of paper. The trade-off obviously is legibility (I'm already using 10 point, just to try to get as much on the page as I can).

So, I've applied a few PostScript tricks, and have generated as high as resolution as I can version of the book, putting two pages on a single piece of paper (rotated 90 degrees, in landscape). Before I go the trouble of working out all the kinks in generating a version of the book in this format, I'd like to solicit opinions from the user community on 'how small is too small', amongst other things. To aid your evaluation, the following two links point at PDF files: the first, a slice out of the Delta method appendix, which gives the current 'normal' formatting (one page of book = one piece of printed paper), and second, the new format jamming two pages on one piece of printed paper.

http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/doc ... normal.pdf

http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/doc ... mbined.pdf

Please have a look - onscreen, there is effectively no difference (since you can zoom in on the PDF using your PDF reader to whatever size your eyes prefer, or you screen accommodates). The test of interest is the 'hardcopy' test - so, print out both, and see just how bad it would be to use the 2 pages in 1 formatting for some purposes.

You can either post your opinions here, or email me directly. I'd really appreciate your feedback - its not a huge task to generate a reformatted version, but still...

Thanks in advance...

Another option (which Adam Duerr just suggested) is to (i) first increase the point size of the 'normal' pages, and then (ii) print these 'increased point size pages' 2 -> 1. The probably (as he noted) with the first example is that the point size on the 2 -> 1 reduction is pretty small - perhaps too much so for the printed version to be of much use. So, to test Adam's hypothesis, have a look now at

http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/doc ... r-font.pdf

As you'll see quickly, it is indeed bigger, and as such, easier to read. Is it big enough? If it is, then this is a possiblity, with the following caveats:

1. the length of the final printed 'book' will not be reduced by a full 50% (e.g., if I leave the point size as it is, then 2 -> is a 50% reduction; say, 700 pages -> 350 pages). If I first increase the point size of the standard font, then use the 2 -> 1 formating, the reduction is closer to ~35%, based on a few tests (in practice, say, 700 pages -> 450 or so). Not quite the same savings, but perhaps the best compromise between fewer pages, and legibility.

2. the penalty, though, for increasing the original point size is that I'll have to reformat the entire book - something that would take me about a full day of doing not much else. The equations and tables and the like would reformat automatically, but then there are all those pesky screen images. Still, if folks really think its worth it, I'm happy to give it a shot.

Again, let me know what you think...

After a fair bit of fooling, I've posted a new file for those of you wanting a 'ready to print' PDF of the entire book, with 2 pages printing on one page of paper (reducing overall length of the print job by half). Simply point your browser at

http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/doc ... educed.zip

The 'reduced' pdf file is still completely readable on the screen (if you zoom in as needed within your pdf reader), and prints out quite legibly (in my opinion), on a decent (600 dpi minimum) laser printer (or equivalent).

The reduced file is *identical* (in terms of content) to the normally formatted version - the only change is 2 pages now placed on 1 printable page.