Introducing LaTeX Math Typesetting

phoenixthoth

scientific notebook lets you create things that look like math but when you save it, it's in tex (or latex?). i'm looking for other equation editors myself cuz there is one thing i don't like about scientific notebook.

how does one go about adding tex capabilities to their message board?

Adrian Baker

Lets have a go....

[tex]2\pi\sqrt{l/g}[/tex]


[tex]\gamma \equiv \frac{1}{\sqrt{1 - v^2/c^2}}[/tex]


edit: After three attempts I got it to work!!
[:)]

chroot

Displaying vectors can be tricky.

The default \vec LaTeX command produces a little arrow over the top of vectors, e.g.

[tex]\lambda_j = \vec{\lambda} \cdot \vec{e}_j[/tex]

If you'd prefer to make your vectors boldface, just redefine the \vec command. See the source for this image to see how the command is redefined.

[tex]
\renewcommand{\vec}[1]{\mbox{\boldmath $ #1 $}}

\lambda_j = \vec{\lambda} \cdot \vec{e}_j[/tex]

- Warren

lethe

does this always generate display mode, or can we make it do inline mode as well?

chroot

You mean, can you typeset your entire post in TeX and use $ $ to set off the math?

- Warren

lethe

no, LaTeX has two modes, one for displaying equations inline (with $...$), where stuff is smaller, and another for display mode equations (\[ .... \]). the same equation will display differently depending on which you use. can we have access to both methods?

chroot

In what way are equations displayed differently in these two modes? AFAIK, math is displayed the same way in between $$ as in the displaymath environment.

- Warren

Ambitwistor

Display math:

[tex]\sum_i x^i[/tex]

(inline) math, [tex]\mbox{$\sum_i x^i$}[/tex], hacked

Ambitwistor

The 'displaymath' environment is the same as $$...$$, to show equations on a line by themselves, but $...$ is the 'math' environment, which is intended for equations inlined with other text.

chroot

Ambi,

Cool, I tried a few things and couldn't find anything that displayed differently!

Using \mbox is a fine way to do it.

- Warren

chroot

If it becomes a serious wishlist item for a lot of people, I can consider adding some attributes like mode=displaymath or mode=inline to the [ tex ] tag. Otherwise, \mbox is the easiest way to accomplish it.

- Warren

lethe

yeah, neither could i, because apparently the software doesn t recognize the inline mode commands...

OK, good enough

chroot

No, I tried \mbox too -- but I tried y = mx + b, which looks the same in both environments, lol:

[tex]y = m x + b[/tex]

[tex]\mbox{ $ y = m x + b $ }[/tex]

- Warren

lethe

do we have the amsmath package? mbox is a little limited, (like it doesn t go into subscripts very well), and \text is better.

lethe

yeah, i think the only place where this makes a difference is for larger things like fractions, summations and integrations.

Ambitwistor

It seems to me that typing "\mbox{}" is still easier than typing "mode=inline" ...

Ambitwistor

Yes, we have amsmath; I only recently started using it, so I keep forgetting about it...

However, if you're proposing \text as a replacement for \mbox in this instance ...

[tex]\mbox{$\sum_i x^i$}[/tex]
[tex]\text{$\sum_i x^i$}[/tex]