\documentclass{minimal} \usepackage{fancybox} \newlength{\boxedeqnlen} \newenvironment{equationbox}{\vspace{1em}\\% \begin{Sbox}\setlength{\boxedeqnlen}{\linewidth}% \addtolength{\boxedeqnlen}{-2\fboxsep}% \addtolength{\boxedeqnlen}{-2\fboxrule}% \begin{minipage}{\boxedeqnlen}% \begin{equation}}% {\end{equation}% \end{minipage}% \end{Sbox}\fbox{\TheSbox}\vspace{1em}\\} \begin{document} If we find the value of $x$ which solves the equation \begin{equation} 2x-1=0 \end{equation} we obtain \begin{equationbox} x=\frac{1}{2} \end{equationbox} where we employ the use of a \textit{fraction}. \end{document}
It behaves exactly like the equation environment as far as I can tell regarding indenting (or not indenting) the next line. It also looks good in both single space and 1.5 spaced environments. Thanks everyone! Back to thesis writing.

Side note: I couldn't get /bgroup or /egroup to work, but I can't recall the exact problem. They seem to only be substitutes for { and } in certain scenarios.
Side note 2: The main problem with lrbox is that, while it does save text, it also formats it according to the currently activated environment, so if you do something like \begin{equation}\usebox{\thebox}\end{equation}, then the text in \thebox will still be formatted in the normal text mode.