# How to use $$TeX$$ & $$LaTeX$$ typesetting on this site

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by Prometheus, Apr 8, 2014.

1. ### PrometheusAdministratorStaff Member

$$TeX$$ and $$LaTeX$$ are closely related typesetting languages frequently used to display mathematics and other special symbols, such as:
[Tex]\sum_{k=0}^n (a_n)^k {n \choose k} \root {k+1}\uproot 2 \of {\frac{1+sin(a_k)}{x^2+y^2}} [/Tex]
Now, what could be more fun than that, right? To write your own equations, you can use the $$or [latex] tag (they both do the same thing) as follows: Code: [tex]a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$
The next time the page is rendered, you get: $$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$

There are come catches, however. The page layout is only done when the page is loaded, and it takes a bit of time if you have a lot of rendering to do. You may need to refresh the page to get it to render changes you just made. However, the typesetting is print quality (which you can see if you zoom in), and uses svg vector graphic format. IE versions 8 and prior cannot display svg graphics. Other browsers can, including IE 9 or greater.

For a very comprehensive and slow loading page showing every typesetting command available, check out this page.

You can also typeset equations in "display style", which just puts it on its own line, centers it, and makes it slightly bigger. To do that, just use [Tex] instead of [tex] as in:
Code:
[Tex]a^2 + b^2 = c^2[/Tex]
Then you get:
[Tex]a^2 + b^2 = c^2[/Tex]
The above will always display the equation on its own. If you want to render an equation in the middle of a sentence or other content, use the lower case tag.

Also, note that you only capitalize the first letter of the tag. Don't do all caps. If you use all caps you must report to hell for the next six hundred three score and six days. You've been warned.