Maths Plugin Improvement Suggestion

[ErnWong]

Right now, I think Mathematics is displayed like this:

(correct me if I'm wrong...)

• Only TeX notation is currently supported. (There are other input formats)
• Only dollar signs are recognised as maths delimiters.
• Maths is stored as a <script> tag in the HTML file, (which is good, better than leaving it raw, solving issues such as misunderstand underscore #3, but maybe MathML is better for accessibility and other reasons).
• TeX notation is stored within the script element.
• MathJax is required to display the maths.
• Not all EPUB readers support MathJax, and so some EPUB readers, and engines that don't run JS can't display the mathematics. E.g. It requires four backslash for a newline in math environment gitbook#295

Suggestion: Would it be great if it was like this?

• ASCIIMath, TeX syntax, and MathML are all recognised and parsed (authors can choose which one to use through the plugin options).
• Various delimiters for mathematics are recognised and supported (chosen by the author through plugin options, maybe author uses a lot of dollar signs? perhaps.)
• MathML and SVG are generated. Since MathJax is not lightning fast, SVG is shown until all mathematics are typeset completely.
  SVG is also used as a backup for software that don't support MathML nor MathJax. SVG can be disabled through the option.
  Perhaps something like MathJax-Node could help us with generating MathML and SVG?
• Authors can define custom macros for MathJax through the plugin options. This would make our lives a lot easier and make our markdown source look more beautiful (and readable).
• Original notation source is preserved in MathML annotation.
• MathJax is served with the webpage, so that mathematics is rendered consistently. (Authors can also choose the maths font settings and other useful settings as well)

Summary

What do you guys, @SamyPesse and @AaronO, think?

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Plugin options that are possibly great to have:

• choose input notation
• choose maths delimiters
• enable/disable SVG being generated
• custom macros and all those kind of good stuff that are in MathJax configurations.

[pkra]

👍 we're happy to help with any MathJax and MathJax-node questions.

[renkun-ken]

Since commit eafa018 disabled inline math, I'm wondering how I can use inline math if there's a need? Now my inline formulas don't render any more...

[ErnWong]

I think right now double dollar signs e.g. $$ 1+1=2 $$ are parsed for inline... I'm not sure if that will change later on though.

Escaping the TeX notation still works though, although it's not parsed by kramed:
e.g. \\( 1+1=2 \\) compiles to \( 1+1=2 \) which MathJax then reads.

However, that means that you will have to escape a lot of characters in your maths formulae, like ampersands, slashes, etc. and you could run into problems like #3

[renkun-ken]

Thanks @ErnWong, I reviewed the official documentation at http://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/start.html#tex-and-latex-input, tried and it works only for inline math, and still found no way to render displayed math.

Commit eafa018 removes the inlineMath config, so everything should go back to the default settings of mathjax, that is,

The default math delimiters are $$...$$ and \[...\] for displayed mathematics, and \(...\) for in-line mathematics.

Why $$...$$ (displayed math) is rendered as inline math instead?

[renkun-ken]

Find a way to use both inline math and displayed math:

Inline math:

This is an equation $$x^2+y^2=z^2$$ where $$x$$, $$y$$, and $$z$$ are some variables.

Displayed math:

This is an equation 
$$x^2+y^2=z^2$$ 
where $$x$$, $$y$$, and $$z$$ are some variables.

(just start a new line to write displayed math)

This works for me :)

[ErnWong]

Also, \\[ x=0 \\] works as well (at least last time I tried it).

But then that skips kramed preprocessing, meaning that markdown vs maths issues like #3 will creep back.

By the way, although the double dollar signs for both inline and display works, it sacrifices the ability to write display maths within paragraphs. I guess you don't need that though, and $$ does makes the code look clearer.

But then... GitbookIO/kramed#3

[renkun-ken]

Thanks @ErnWong for the references to the previous issues! It seems like the decision must be made really carefully to meet so many demands :) At the moment I'll change my content to adopt $$ in all places, hope it won't be broken some time later...

[reudhos]

Is it possible to add mhchem extension to MathJax. I really need it for the chemistry book. In mathjax configuration docs the recommendation is to "use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block:
TeX: {
extensions: ["mhchem.js"]
}"

But if try to do it in book.json it just doesn't work.

[hardywu]

Let single dollar sign be supported as inline math delimiter? This could enable converting existing latex files into gitbooks.

[cben]

@vasalx It should also be possible to force the extension to load by putting \require{mhchem} in some equation.
http://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/tex.html#tex-and-latex-extensions

[davy39]

Thanks @ErnWong for this great summary of expected improvements, it 's very clearly exposed !
Does anybody currently working on it ? I'll be happy to help :)

Especially, I will be glad to be able to use another input notation (ASCIIMath).
What about simply using config=TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML ?

Isn't it possible to enable a full configuration of mathjax by linking some MathJax.Hub.Config parameters to book.json "pluginsConfig" ?

[dsoto]

+1 for single dollar sign delimiter for maximum compatibility with existing latex

[vkrishna143]

As @dsoto said it would be great to have compatibility with existing latex

[xiaopow]

for block math

$$ a + b $$

for inline math

$$a + b$$