> RTF contains math in the same sense as LaTeX contains color.

sorry to disagree, since you know much more about Windows stuff than
me, but the following fragment of RTF shows that there is a
variant of RTF other than the embedded equation object that you
demonstrated:

6. nested matrix with braces\hyphpar0\par\pard\sl-240\fi200\qj {\field{\*\fldinst  EQ \\b\\lc\\{(}\\rc\\{)}({ {\i X} \\b\\lc\\{\{}\\rc\\{\}}({\\a\\hs2\\vs2\\ac\\co3({\fs18 {\i a}},{\fs18 {\i b}},{\fs18 {\i c}},{\fs18 {\i d}},{\fs18 {\i e}},{\fs18 {\i f}})}) {\i a}=0 {\i b}=2 })}{\fldrslt}}\hyphpar0\par\pard\sl-240\fi200\qj


sebastian