kuruman said:
If you want to post an in-line expression in LaTeX enclose it with two # on each side. For example, \sqrt{2} becomes ##\sqrt{2}##.
When demonstrating ##\LaTeX## there is a trick that can be employed so that the "#" and "$" delimiters can be seen rather than interpreted by the rendering engine. What one does is to change the color on one of the "#" or "$" signs in a pair. Change it to black -- the default.
Start by keying in your ##\LaTeX## with the doubled delimiters. For instance:
Square root of two is ##\sqrt{2}##
Square root of two is: $$\sqrt{2}$$
Select the second delimiter in one of the pairs. If you are on a computer, that's left-click and hold while sweeping over it so that the single delimiter is highlighted).
Click the palette icon ("text color") and select black (RGB #000000).
Repeat for all of the delimiter pairs. Since black is the default color, the change is invisible.
Internally, the effect is that BB code tags for text color are inserted before and after the selected character. If one turns off BB code interpretation in the editor (click the [ ] icon for "toggle BB code") the result will look like this:
Square root of two is ##\sqrt{2}##
Square root of two is: $$\sqrt{2}$$
The presence of the color tags means that the ##\LaTeX## delimiters are no longer back to back. So the ##\LaTeX## rendering engine (MathJax) does not activate. Without the color tags the delimiters are back to back, the rendering engine triggers, the ##\LaTeX## is rendered and the reader sees the expected result:
Square root of two is ##\sqrt{2}##
Square root of two is: $$\sqrt{2}$$
If one wants to disable the BB code engine to allow BB codes to be seen by the reader rather than rendered, a different trick can be employed. Surround the codes with [PLAIN] and [/PLAIN] tags. However, this trick is ineffectual in fooling the MathJax engine.