Can't Preview Latex Equations - Newbie Needing Help

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  • Thread starter Thread starter SunMesa
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around issues with previewing LaTeX equations on the Physics Forums platform. Participants describe their experiences with LaTeX rendering, including problems with caching and browser behavior, and seek assistance in resolving these issues.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant reports that LaTeX code appears correctly in the composition box but not in the preview area, where only ASCII text and a lower-case Greek "alpha" are shown.
  • Another participant mentions that using the Ctrl-F5 trick seems to resolve the issue for them, suggesting it may be a caching problem.
  • A participant expresses a similar experience, noting that their browser sometimes displays the last LaTeX equation made, even from different posts, and inquires about the browsers others are using.
  • One user describes a workaround in Firefox that involves right-clicking the image and refreshing it to see the updated LaTeX equation.
  • Another participant confirms experiencing similar issues with seeing equations from previous posts and states that reloading the page updates the images correctly.
  • A later reply references a claim by a user involved in setting up LaTeX on the forum, suggesting that no changes were made on the servers when the issues began, and speculates about possible external caching problems.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that there are issues with LaTeX rendering and caching, but there are multiple competing views on the cause and potential solutions, leaving the discussion unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the underlying reasons for the LaTeX rendering issues, including potential caching by the internet service provider or changes made by the forum administrators that are not publicly acknowledged.

SunMesa
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I'm a newbie, please bear with me...

I can't seem to be able to preview equations generated with the Latex buttons. The Latex code itself appears in the message composition box, but in the preview area all that appears is the ascii text, along with a lower-case greek "alpha" character in the place where the equation should be. I have cut and pasted Latex code from other posts and get the same result. Help! Thanks-
 
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All,

Apologies for not searching previous threads on this. I gather this has been an ongoing issue. The Ctrl-F5 trick seems to be working for me. Not sure if I can delete this thread on my own, if not, moderators feel free.
 
I always have the same issue; often it shows me the last latex equation I made (even from an entirely different post). What browser are you using? Anyone else having similar issues?
 
It hasn't been quite that bad for me, but I have noticed that when I change a LaTeX equation and then preview or submit the post, my changes usually aren't reflected in the image. In Firefox I've found that I can get around it by right-clicking the image, control-clicking on "View Image" (to open just the image itself in a new tab), and refreshing that. (Refreshing the final post with F5 also seems to work)

My problem, at least, can be explained by the caching policy on the images, but if you're seeing LaTeX images from entirely different posts, that seems pretty weird. Maybe the admins have sensible reasons for doing it that way, though, I wouldn't know.
 
I often see equations from previous posts as well. Reloading the page updates the images to the correct ones.
 
diazona said:
Maybe the admins have sensible reasons for doing it that way, though, I wouldn't know.
In one of the other threads, chroot (the guy who set up the LaTeX here) claimed that no changes were made on the PF servers when this started happening. So either their internet service provider is doing some weird caching, or there have been changes made that he isn't aware of. Either way, it's not a deliberate choice made by anyone at Physics Forums.
 

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