Why is Latex acting strange on Physics Forums?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around issues related to LaTeX rendering on Physics Forums, specifically problems with displaying LaTeX equations in posts and previews. Participants explore potential causes, workarounds, and the implications of a planned transition to MathJax for improved rendering.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant reports that LaTeX entries from previous posts are displayed instead of the current entries when attempting to include LaTeX in new posts.
  • Another participant tests LaTeX rendering and notes that it does not appear in their post.
  • A participant suggests that the issue may be related to case sensitivity in the LaTeX tags and questions whether the problem is with the preview or normal posts.
  • Some participants indicate that refreshing the page does not resolve the issue, while others believe it is a preview problem.
  • A participant mentions that clearing the cache might help, although they have not tried it themselves.
  • One participant states that this issue has been known since April 2010 and affects all users regardless of their browser or operating system.
  • Another participant notes that a transition to MathJax is planned, which they believe will resolve the rendering issues.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the rendering issue is a caching quirk, but there is no consensus on the effectiveness of refreshing the page or clearing the cache as a solution. Some participants express confidence that the final posts will display correctly, while others remain uncertain about the preview functionality.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in the current LaTeX rendering system and the potential for future improvements with MathJax, but does not resolve the ongoing issues experienced by users.

bapowell
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Starting yesterday, when I attempt to include latex in my PF posts, instead of rendering what's between the latex tags, it prints out latex entries from my previous posts! For example, if I were to enter 15 separate latex equations, instead of printing these, it would render my last 15 (those prior to yesterday) latex equations in their place.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here??
 
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Hmm, I'm not seeing LaTeX in this post...

[tex]e^{\pi i}+1=0, \rm \LaTeX test[/tex]
 
Last edited:
This is a test:

[itex]e^{\pi i} + 1 = 0[/itex]
 
Apparently the tex tags are case sensitive; I'm posting mobile so the stupid autocorrect messed the tag up and I didn't notice.

Is it just the incorrect previewing issue, or is it with normal posts? Does refreshing load the proper TeX?
 
It only appears to be a problem with the preview. Refreshing doesn't appear to help.
 
bapowell, this also happens to me. I tend to ignore it because I know it'll show the correct LaTeX when the post is made. I haven't tried this myself, but have you tried clearing the cache?
 
This is a known problem with LaTeX on the site, and has to do with the way the TeX images are cached.

I believe Greg is planning to switch the site over to MathJax, which should remove this issue.
 
Metaleer said:
bapowell, this also happens to me. I tend to ignore it because I know it'll show the correct LaTeX when the post is made. I haven't tried this myself, but have you tried clearing the cache?
I've not. I don't know how to do this. I tried clearing my browser cache to no avail. Thanks for all the responses. I suppose this is not that big a deal as long as the latex prints properly in the final message.
 
  • #10
bapowell said:
Starting yesterday, when I attempt to include latex in my PF posts, instead of rendering what's between the latex tags, it prints out latex entries from my previous posts! For example, if I were to enter 15 separate latex equations, instead of printing these, it would render my last 15 (those prior to yesterday) latex equations in their place.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here??
This is not a "real" problem - it's a caching quirk. Simply reload/refresh page to display correct equations.
 
  • #11
Bapowell, what you're describing sounds exactly like the problem that we've all had since April 13, 2010. It affects everyone, regardless of what browser and operating system they're using. The workaround is to refresh and resend after each preview, and you sometimes have to do it one more time after saving an edit. Clearing the browser cache doesn't help.
 

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