Latex is a powerful technology to add mathematical expressions in documents, including websites. Here’s a few tips.
Standard operations
Expressions are surrounded in this markdown script with a dollar ($) symbol, which causes the rendering javascript engine to interpret the internal expression.
ie. $<expression>$
Standard symbols are prefixed with a \ character
| Symbol | Expression | Comment | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $\sum$ | \sum | sum | \sum_{x=1}^{K}(r) | $\sum_{x=1}^{K}(r)$ |
| $\int$ | \int | integral | \int_{a}^{b} x^2 dx | $\int_{a}^{b} x^2 dx$ |
| $\prod$ | \prod | product | \prod_{i=a}^{b} f(i) | $\prod_{i=a}^{b} f(i)$ |
Further extension of these are also available
| Symbol | Expression | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| $\iint$ | \iint | double integral |
| $\iiint$ | \iiint | triple integral |
| $\oint$ | \oint | contour integral |
| $\oiint$ | \oiint | closed surface integral |
| $\oiiint$ | \oiiint | closed volume integral |
Superscript and Subscript
Superscript, expressed with the hat ^ character, can be used to express a power function. An example of this is the famous Pythagorean triangle to calculate lengths of the sides of a triangle.
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $x^2 + y^2 = z^2$ | x^2 + y^2 = z^2 |
Subscript, expressed with the underscore _ character, can be used to express limits or membership of a variable.
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $y = x_i$ | y = x_i |
The superscript and subscript can also modify the visual location of several items, by surrounding the argument with curly brackets {}, although support is limited
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $f(x)=x^{jk}$. | x^{i+j}. |
| $f(x)=x_{i+j}$. | x_{i+k}. |
| $f_{a+b}=g^{a - b}$. | f_{a+b} = g^{a - b}. |
Brackets and Parenthesis
| Type | LATEX markup | Renders as |
|---|---|---|
| Parentheses; round brackets | (x+y) | $(x+y)$ |
| Brackets; square brackets | [x+y] | $[x+y]$ |
| Braces; curly brackets | \{ x+y \}. | ${x+y}$. |
| Angle brackets | \langle x+y \rangle | $\langle x+y \rangle$ |
| Pipes vertical bars | |x+y| | $|x+y|$ |
| Double pipes | ||x+y|| | $||x+y||$ |
Latex Greek Characters
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $\alpha A$ | \alpha A |
| $\beta B$ | \beta B |
| $\gamma \Gamma$ | \gamma \Gamma |
| $\delta \Delta$ | \delta \Delta |
| $\epsilon \varepsilon E$ | \epsilon \varepsilon E |
| $\zeta Z$ | \zeta Z |
| $\eta H$ | \eta H |
| $\theta \vartheta \Theta$ | \theta \vartheta \Theta |
| $\iota I$ | \iota I |
| $\kappa K$ | \kappa K |
| $\lambda \Lambda$ | \lambda \Lambda |
| $\mu M$ | \mu M |
| $\nu N$ | \nu N |
| $\xi \Xi$ | \xi \Xi |
| $o O$ | o O |
| $\pi \Pi$ | \pi \Pi |
| $\rho \varrho P$ | \rho \varrho P |
| $\sigma \Sigma$ | \sigma \Sigma |
| $\tau T$ | \tau T |
| $\upsilon \Upsilon$ | \upsilon \Upsilon |
| $\phi \varphi \Phi$ | \phi \varphi \Phi |
| $\chi X$ | \chi X |
| $\psi \Psi$ | \psi \Psi |
| $\omega \Omega$ | \omega \Omega |
Arrows
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $\leftarrow$ | \leftarrow |
| $\Leftarrow$ | \Leftarrow |
| $\rightarrow$ | \rightarrow |
| $\Rightarrow\;$ | \Rightarrow |
| $\leftrightarrow$ | \leftrightarrow |
| $\rightleftharpoons$ | \rightleftharpoons |
| $\uparrow$ | \uparrow |
| $\downarrow$ | \downarrow |
| $\Uparrow\;$ | \Uparrow |
| $\Downarrow$ | \Downarrow |
| $\Leftrightarrow\;$ | \Leftrightarrow |
| $\Updownarrow$ | \Updownarrow |
| $\mapsto$ | \mapsto |
| $\longmapsto\;$ | \longmapsto |
| $\nearrow$ | \nearrow |
| $\searrow$ | \searrow |
| $\swarrow$ | \swarrow |
| $\nwarrow$ | \nwarrow |
| $\leftharpoonup$ | \leftharpoonup |
| $\rightharpoonup$ | \rightharpoonup |
| $\leftharpoondown$ | \leftharpoondown |
| $\rightharpoondown$ | \rightharpoondown |
Miscellaneous Symbols
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $\infty\;\;$ | \infty |
| $\forall\;$ | \forall |
| $\Re$ | \Re |
| $\Im$ | \Im |
| $\nabla$ | \nabla |
| $\exists$ | \exists |
| $\partial$ | \partial |
| $\nexists$ | \nexists |
| $\emptyset$ | \emptyset |
| $\varnothing\;$ | \varnothing |
| $\wp$ | \wp |
| $\complement$ | \complement |
| $\neg$ | \neg |
| $\cdots$ | \cdots |
| $\square$ | \square |
| $\surd$ | \surd |
| $\blacksquare$ | \blacksquare |
| $\triangle$ | \triangle |
Binary Operations and Relation Symbols
| Symbol | Expression |
|---|---|
| $\times$ | \times |
| $\div$ | \div |
| $\cap$ | \cap |
| $\cup$ | \cup |
| $\neq\;$ | \neq |
| $\leq$ | \leq |
| $\geq$ | \geq |
| $\in$ | \in |
| $\perp\;$ | \perp |
| $\notin$ | \notin |
| $\subset$ | \subset |
| $\simeq$ | \simeq |
| $\approx$ | \approx |
| $\wedge$ | \wedge |
| $\vee$ | \vee |
| $\oplus\;$ | \oplus |
| $\otimes$ | \otimes |
| $\Box$ | \Box |
| $\boxtimes$ | \boxtimes |
| $\equiv$ | \equiv |
| $\cong$ | \cong |