TeX math markup is sorely needed

Question

This site is going to need TeX markup to express mathematical symbols and formulas well.

Answer 1

I have already started using TeX in my markup.

The way that Math Overflow does it is to surround the TeX with dollar signs, using the jsMath library.

I suggest we stick with that convention, so that when we have support for it, our old posts will "light up".

EDIT:

I have created a quick-hack grease monkey script to get this done in the mean time:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/81977

EDIT2:

I have updated the script to work on Stats.stackexchange.com, and have added in transparency, and options to use other services, as well.

EDIT3:

I have incorporated Isaac's changes, and added an additional rendering service.

Answer 2

The developers should come and ask the moderators of MathOverflow (e.g. me) about this, and we'll happily help out!

By the way, I'd recommend actually using MathJax, the brand new replacement for jsMath. It's still not quite as fast as jsMath, but it's the way of the future. MathOverflow will switch soon.

Answer 3

Temporary workarounds:

Images can be embedded in questions and answers with ![](http://www.example.com/image.png) like so:
![](http://mathurl.com/2azr28f.png) becomes
Combine this with:
http://mathurl.com/ - type in latex, get a minified image url to link to in your posts
http://www.codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php - as above, but no minification, and you have to rightclick to get the image url.

For simple formulas, where LaTeX is not needed:
You can use <sup></sup> to write superscripts and <sub></sub> for subscripts:
y<sub>1</sub>=x<sup>2</sup>+3becomes y₁=x²+3

Answer 4

I've posted a walk-through of how we've implemented math rendering on MathOverflow on meta.SO. As Scott said, we'll be switching to MathJax in the near future, so it probably makes sense for new SE sites to just use MathJax from the get-go. Once we switch, I'll try to remember to update that answer to reflect the changes.

Answer 5

We have added MathJax to support TeX equations based on feedback. MathJax is on the cusp of a 1.0 release and we will update this library once it's final.

Answer 6

Three Four Five observations:

• If one escapes a latex fragment using backticks (this is frequently needed in order to arbitrate between Markdown and the latex rendered) the latex piece gets colored in gray due to the stylesheet in a rather unsightly way.

• Display math using $$ does not seem to work.

• It would be immensely useful if the preview of answers rendered latex too.

• Something's amiss with things like \mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z}, which gets rendered as $\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z}$. (Hmm, here it looks fine, but in http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1057/group-with-an-endomorphism-that-is-almost-abelian-is-abelian/1157#1157 it doesn't)

• Editing a comment kills everything within dollar signs.

Answer 7

I do believe that this is of utmost urgency, and should be first priority for any developers working on this site.

Answer 8

Is this thing on?
$\begin{equation} \sum_{i=1}^{\infty}x_{i} \end{equation}$

...yep!

$\begin{tabular}{r|c|l} symbol & read as & example \ \hline $\to$ & ``maps to" & $f:\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{Z}$ \ $\forall$ & "for all" & $\forall x \in E$ \end{tabular}$

... what environments are going to work here? (clearly not tabular)

EDUT Oh, didnt read the comments. Thanks guys for working on this!

Answer 9

Is anyone else seeing the symbols as monstrously huge?

Answer 10

If the formula is not complicated, besides <sup> and <sub> I also use character entities in html. Some examples:

bold &prod; displays as ∏
bold &sum; displays as ∑

in general, Greek letters are displayed by writing &letter; other symbols are

ℵ &alefsym;
∀ &forall;
∃ &exist;
∈ &isin;
∩ &cap;
∪ &cup;

Look here for the complete list of allowed characters. I know that this is not enough to write decent mathematics, but it's a start.

Answer 11

Agreed. I think everyone is begging for this feature. It's been requested numerous times on Meta StackOverflow, the latest one specifically for Area 51/StackExchange being here.

Personally I would like to see jsMath implemented on StackExchange sites. It's virtually trivial, a script reference simply needs to be added to the page.

Answer 12

In the meantime, there's Google Chart.

edit: except that it doesn't appear to show up. :P

Answer 13

LaTeX rendering is needed, but I would like to see a server-side solution rather than a client-side solution such as jsMath. The biggest problem for me with jsMath is that it takes such a long time to completely load a web page on some popular MathOverflow questions. Often I have to simply disable jsMath or else the web browser consumes so much memory that my computer starts swapping pages of RAM to the disk.

What about adding a toolbar button to convert a LaTeX expression to an image using the mathURL service?

Answer 14

I am running John Gietzen's awesome Greasemonkey script in my browser and everyone's TeX is showing up great - but I am having a problem composing TeX. Specifically, I seem to be completely unable to include addition signs in my formulas. This makes zero sense to me, can somebody explain?

For example: "P of x equals a x squared plus bx plus c" looks like: $P(x)=ax^2 + bx + c$

I have typed $P(x)=ax^2 + bx + c$

EDIT: Isaac has fixed the script, it looks like it's working pretty good now.

Answer 15

As mentioned before, one option that doesn't involve a third party rendering service is MathJax, the spiritual successor to jsMath. Here is a small userscript that inserts MathJax (currently hosted on my own web server, but presumably would be hosted by stack exchange on a permanent basis) into the head of math and meta.math.

You can use a number of math formats for display, like regular ol' TeX markup:

$P(x)=ax^2 + bx + c$

Or some more complex TeX formatting:

$\left( \sum_{k=1}^n a_k b_k \right)^2 \leq \left( \sum_{k=1}^n a_k^2 \right) \left( \sum_{k=1}^n b_k^2 \right)$

And eventually, if Stack Exchange allows MathML to be inserted into pages, code like this:

<math display='block'><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mrow><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mi>b</mi><mo>&#x00B1;</mo><msqrt><mrow><msup><mi>b</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mn>4</mn><mi>a</mi><mi>c</mi></mrow></msqrt></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mi>a</mi></mrow></mfrac></mrow></math>

(something seems a little slow when loading MathJax here - it may be a configuration problem on my end. I will look into it later today. Reference the official preview page if you want a better idea of the latency with translating lots of TeX on a page with javascript - it's quick)

Answer 16

I vote for MathJax to be used instead of jsMath if a Javascript library is decided over a server-side LaTeX image generator.

Equation rendering is exceptional over jsMath, and all major browsers are supported. (Even IE6!! See Browser Compatibility.) Most operating systems and browsers anti-alias the LaTeX, and the equations seem to fit in to the native look, whatever browser that may be.

Answer 17

Another temporary workaround:

Use LaTeXiT with Dropbox or any other image hosting service. To match the size of the body text, set the font size to 16 pt.