LaTeX coding

Mathematics at Whitworth Near Space is displayed using the MathJax browser extension. MathJax can generate equations from either LaTeX or MathML style coding. The standard at Whitworth Near Space is to use LaTeX coding for all mathematics.

Entering math mode
Mathematics can either appear inline (embedded in a line) or as a display equation (set off on a separate line, with the option of being numbered).

Inline math mode
Code for inline mathematics can appear inside of two different delimiters: Older versions of the MathJax extension also allowed the  delimiter if    appeared somewhere on the page. That was disabled in a May 2019 update. These are no longer rendered properly. You may find this on older pages.
 * and

Example of inline math mode
The wiki code "" produces "In classical mechanics, the kinetic energy \(K\) of an object is defined by \(K = \frac{1}{2} m v^2\) where \(m\) is the mass of the object and \(v\) is its speed."

Display math mode
Code for display mathematics can appear inside of four different delimiters: The  delimiter is used for a block of equations, typically displayed with aligned equal signs.
 * , and
 * , and
 * , and

As with inline mode, there was a retired delimiter option.

Example of display math mode
The wiki code "" produces In classical mechanics, the kinetic energy \(K\) of an object is defined by \begin{equation}K = \frac{1}{2} m v^2\end{equation} where \(m\) is the mass of the object and \(v\) is its speed.

Superscripts, subscripts, fractions, and square roots
Superscripts are produced using  and subscripts by. In both cases, this is then followed by either a single character or if a multi-character superscript/subscript is required then those characters must be enclosed in curly braces.

Fractions are produced using.

Square roots are produced using.

Functions
Functions such as sine and natural log are written with a  before their names to distinguish them from a collection of variables. For example,  produces \(\sin x\) but   gives us \(sin x\) (meaning the variable \(s\) times the variable \(i\) times the variable \(n\) times the variable \(x\)).

Scaled Grouping Symbols
Grouping symbols like parentheses that scale vertically to fit their contents can be produced using the codes  and.