How to Write a System of Equations in Word

Updated 09/01/2026

The curly brace wrapping every equation in a system is the hardest thing to draw by hand in Word — stretching a brace character always ends up the wrong size for however many lines you actually have. Word has a dedicated template for exactly this, called Cases.

How to insert a system of equations with the Cases template

1. Open an equation (Alt + =).
2. On the Equation tab, in the Structures group, click Cases (usually right next to Matrix).
3. Pick the template with a left curly brace and however many blank lines you need — or start with a 2-line template and add more later if you're not sure how many equations you'll need.
4. Type each equation into its own line, press Enter or use the add-line button in the corner of the box to create a new line — the brace stretches automatically to match.

Lining up the equals signs

To keep every equation's = sign lined up in a column (which looks far more professional than letting them fall wherever), type the left-hand sides with roughly the same relative length, or use tab alignment right inside the equation box if your Word version supports it — the simplest, most reliable approach is still to type it out and nudge each line by eye until it looks even.

Just need a brace over multiple lines, not a real system?

If you only need a curly brace spanning several lines and it isn't technically a system of equations (a piecewise function definition, for example), the Cases template still works — it's the same underlying structure; Word doesn't care about the math meaning, only the shape: “one brace, several lines inside.”

See also how to write a matrix in Word if you need to present coefficients as a matrix instead of listing each equation individually.