Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Documentation¶
MathJax is an open-source JavaScript display engine for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notation that works in all modern browsers.
Basic Usage¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What is MathJax?¶
MathJax is an open-source JavaScript display engine for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notation that works in all modern browsers. It was designed with the goal of consolidating the recent advances in web technologies into a single, definitive, math-on-the-web platform supporting the major browsers and operating systems, including those on mobile devices. It requires no setup on the part of the user (no plugins to download or software to install), so the page author can write web documents that include mathematics and be confident that users will be able to view it naturally and easily. One simply includes MathJax and some mathematics in a web page, and MathJax does the rest.
MathJax uses web-based fonts (in those browsers that support it) to produce high-quality typesetting that scales and prints at full resolution (unlike mathematics included as images). MathJax can be used with screen readers, providing accessibility for the visually impaired. With MathJax, mathematics is text-based rather than image-based, and so it is available for search engines, meaning that your equations can be searchable, just like the text of your pages. MathJax allows page authors to write formulas using TeX and LaTeX notation, MathML, a World Wide Web Consortium standard for representing mathematics in XML format, or AsciiMath notation. MathJax will even convert TeX notation into MathML, so that it can be rendered more quickly by those browsers that support MathML natively, or so that you can copy and paste it into other programs.
MathJax is modular, so it loads components only when necessary, and can be extended to include new capabilities as needed. MathJax is highly configurable, allowing authors to customize it for the special requirements of their web sites. Finally, MathJax has a rich application programming interface (API) that can be used to make the mathematics on your web pages interactive and dynamic.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Getting Started¶
MathJax allows you to include mathematics in your web pages, either using LaTeX, MathML, or AsciiMath notation, and the mathematics will be processed using javascript to produce HTML, SVG or MathML equations for viewing in any modern browser.
There are two ways to access MathJax: the easiest way is to use the
copy of MathJax available from a distributed network service such as
cdnjs.com, but you can also download and install a copy of
MathJax on your own server, or use it locally on your hard disk
(with no need for network access). All three of these are described
below, with links to more detailed explanations. This page gives the
quickest and easiest ways to get MathJax up and running on your web
site, but you may want to read the details in order to customize the
setup for your pages.
Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)¶
The easiest way to use MathJax is to link directly to a public installation available through a Content Distribution Network (CDN). When you use a CDN, there is no need to install MathJax yourself, and you can begin using MathJax right away.
The CDN will automatically arrange for your readers to download MathJax files from a fast, nearby server.
To use MathJax from a CDN, you need to do two things:
- Link to MathJax in the web pages that are to include mathematics.
- Put mathematics into your web pages so that MathJax can display it.
Warning
We retired our self-hosted CDN at cdn.mathjax.org in April, 2017.
We recommend using cdnjs.com which uses the same provider.
The use of cdn.mathjax.org was governed by its terms of service.
To jump start using cdnjs, you accomplish the first step by putting
<script type="text/javascript" async
src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.4.0/MathJax.js?config=TeX-MML-AM_CHTML">
</script>
into the <head> block of your document. (It can also go in the
<body> if necessary, but the head is to be preferred.) This will
load the latest version of MathJax from the distributed server, and
configure it to recognize mathematics in both TeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notation,
and ask it to generate its output using HTML with CSS to display the
mathematics.
Warning
The TeX-MML-AM_CHTML configuration is one of the most general (and thus largest) combined configuration files. We list it here because it will quickly get you started using MathJax. It is probably not the most efficient configuration for your purposes and other combined configuration files are available. You can also provide additional configuration parameters to tailor one of the combined configurations to your needs or use our development tools to generate your own combined configuration file.
More details about the configuration process can be found in the Loading and Configuring MathJax instructions.
Note
To see how to enter mathematics in your web pages, see Putting mathematics in a web page below.
Installing Your Own Copy of MathJax¶
We recommend using a cdn service if you can, but you can also install MathJax on your own server, or locally on your own hard disk. To do so you will need to do the following things:
- Obtain a copy of MathJax and make it available on your server or hard disk.
- Configure MathJax to suit the needs of your site.
- Link MathJax into the web pages that are to include mathematics.
- Put mathematics into your web pages so that MathJax can display it.
Downloading and Installing MathJax¶
The MathJax source code is hosted on
GitHub.
To install MathJax on your own server, download the
the latest distribution and
unpack the archive and place the resulting MathJax folder onto your
web server at a convenient location where you can include it into your
web pages. For example, making MathJax a top-level directory on
your server would be one natural way to do this. That would let you
refer to the main MathJax file via the URL /MathJax/MathJax.js
from within any page on your server.
Once you have MathJax set up on your server, you can test it using the
files in the MathJax/test directory. If you are putting MathJax
on a server, load them in your browser using their web addresses
rather than opening them locally (i.e., use an http:// URL rather
than a file:// URL). When you view the index.html file, after
a few moments you should see a message indicating that MathJax appears
to be working. If not, check that the files have been transferred to
the server completely and that the permissions allow the server to
access the files and folders that are part of the MathJax directory.
(Be sure to verify the MathJax folder’s permissions as well.) Check
the server log files for any errors that pertain to the MathJax
installation; this may help locate problems in the permission or
locations of files.
For more details (such as version control access) see the installation instructions <installation>.
Configuring your copy of MathJax¶
When you include MathJax into your web pages as described below, it
will load the file config/TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML.js (i.e., the file
named TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML.js in the config folder of the
main MathJax folder). This file preloads all the most
commonly-used components of MathJax, allowing it to process
mathematics that is in the TeX or LaTeX format, or in MathML notation.
It will produce output in MathML form if the user’s browser supports
that sufficiently, and will use HTML-with-CSS to render the
mathematics otherwise.
There are a number of other prebuilt configuration files that you can
choose from as well, or you could use the config/default.js file and
customize the settings yourself. The combined configuration files are
described more fully in Common Configurations, and the configuration options are described in
Configuration Options.
Note: The configuration process changed between MathJax v1.0 and v1.1, so if you have existing pages that use MathJax v1.0, you may need to modify the tag that loads MathJax so that it conforms with the new configuration process. See Installing and Configuring MathJax for more details.
Linking your copy of MathJax into a web page¶
You can include MathJax in your web page by putting
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
in your document’s <head> block. Here, path-to-MathJax should
be replaced by the URL for the main MathJax directory, so if you have
put the MathJax directory at the top level of you server’s web
site, you could use
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
to load MathJax in your page. For example, your page could look like
<html>
<head>
...
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
If you have installed MathJax on a server that is in a different domain from the one serving the page that loads MathJax, be sure to read the Notes About Shared Servers for more details. In that case, you may wish to consider using the MathJax CDN rather than installing your own copy of MathJax.
Putting mathematics in a web page¶
To put mathematics in your web page, you can use TeX and LaTeX notation, MathML notation, AsciiMath notation, or a combination of all three within the same page; the MathJax configuration tells MathJax which you want to use, and how you plan to indicate the mathematics when you are using TeX notation. The configuration file used in the examples above tells MathJax to look for both TeX and MathML notation within your pages. Other configuration files tell MathJax to use AsciiMath input. These three formats are described in more detail below.
TeX and LaTeX input¶
Mathematics that is written in TeX or LaTeX format is indicated using math delimiters that surround the mathematics, telling MathJax what part of your page represents mathematics and what is normal text. There are two types of equations: ones that occur within a paragraph (in-line mathematics), and larger equations that appear separated from the rest of the text on lines by themselves (displayed mathematics).
The default math delimiters are $$...$$ and \[...\] for
displayed mathematics, and \(...\) for in-line mathematics. Note
in particular that the $...$ in-line delimiters are not used
by default. That is because dollar signs appear too often in
non-mathematical settings, which could cause some text to be treated
as mathematics unexpectedly. For example, with single-dollar
delimiters, “… the cost is $2.50 for the first one, and $2.00 for
each additional one …” would cause the phrase “2.50 for the first
one, and” to be treated as mathematics since it falls between dollar
signs. For this reason, if you want to use single-dollars for in-line
math mode, you must enable that explicitly in your configuration:
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {inlineMath: [['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)']]}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-mathjax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
See the config/default.js file, or the tex2jax configuration
options page, for additional configuration
parameters that you can specify for the tex2jax preprocessor,
which is the component of MathJax that identifies TeX notation within
the page. See the TeX and LaTeX page for
more on MathJax’s support for TeX, and in particular how to deal with
single dollar signs in your text when you have enabled single
dollar-sign delimiters.
Here is a complete sample page containing TeX mathematics (also available in the test/sample-tex.html file):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MathJax TeX Test Page</title>
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({tex2jax: {inlineMath: [['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)']]}});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
</head>
<body>
When $a \ne 0$, there are two solutions to \(ax^2 + bx + c = 0\) and they are
$$x = {-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac} \over 2a}.$$
</body>
</html>
Since the TeX notation is part of the text of the page, there are some caveats that you must keep in mind when you enter your mathematics. In particular, you need to be careful about the use of less-than signs, since those are what the browser uses to indicate the start of a tag in HTML. Putting a space on both sides of the less-than sign should be sufficient, but see TeX and LaTeX support for details.
If you are using MathJax within a blog, wiki, or other content management system, the markup language used by that system may interfere with the TeX notation used by MathJax. For example, if your blog uses Markdown notation for authoring your pages, the underscores used by TeX to indicate subscripts may be confused with the use of underscores by Markdown to indicate italics, and the two uses may prevent your mathematics from being displayed. See TeX and LaTeX support for some suggestions about how to deal with the problem.
There are a number of extensions for the TeX input processor that are
loaded by the TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML configuration. These include:
- TeX/AMSmath.js, which defines the AMS math environments and macros,
- TeX/AMSsymbols.js, which defines the macros for the symbols in the msam10 and msbm10 fonts,
- TeX/noErrors.js, which shows the original TeX code rather than an error message when there is a problem processing the TeX, and
- TeX/noUndefined.js, which prevents undefined macros from producing an error message, and instead shows the macro name in red.
Other extensions may be loaded automatically when needed. See TeX and LaTeX support for details on the other TeX extensions that are available.
MathML input¶
For mathematics written in MathML notation, you mark your
mathematics using standard <math> tags, where <math
display="block"> represents displayed mathematics and <math
display="inline"> or just <math> represents in-line mathematics.
Note that this will work in HTML files, not just XHTML files (MathJax
works with both), and that the web page need not be served with any
special MIME-type. Also note that, unless you are using XHTML rather
than HTML, you should not include a namespace prefix for your
<math> tags; for example, you should not use <m:math> except
in a file where you have tied the m namespace to the MathML DTD by
adding the xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" attribtue
to your file’s <html> tag.
Although it is not required, it is recommended that you include the
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" attribute on all
<math> tags in your document (and this is preferred to the use of
a namespace prefix like m: above, since those are deprecated in
HTML5) in order to make your MathML work in the widest range of
situations.
Here is a complete sample page containing MathML mathematics (also available in the test/sample-mml.html file):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MathJax MathML Test Page</title>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p>
When
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
<mi>a</mi><mo>≠</mo><mn>0</mn>
</math>,
there are two solutions to
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
<mi>a</mi><msup><mi>x</mi><mn>2</mn></msup>
<mo>+</mo> <mi>b</mi><mi>x</mi>
<mo>+</mo> <mi>c</mi> <mo>=</mo> <mn>0</mn>
</math>
and they are
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="block">
<mi>x</mi> <mo>=</mo>
<mrow>
<mfrac>
<mrow>
<mo>−</mo>
<mi>b</mi>
<mo>±</mo>
<msqrt>
<msup><mi>b</mi><mn>2</mn></msup>
<mo>−</mo>
<mn>4</mn><mi>a</mi><mi>c</mi>
</msqrt>
</mrow>
<mrow> <mn>2</mn><mi>a</mi> </mrow>
</mfrac>
</mrow>
<mtext>.</mtext>
</math>
</p>
</body>
</html>
When entering MathML notation in an HTML page (rather than an XHTML page), you should not use self-closing tags, but should use explicit open and close tags for all your math elements. For example, you should use
<mspace width="5pt"></mspace>
rather than <mspace width="5pt" /> in an HTML document. If you
use the self-closing form, some browsers will not build the math tree
properly, and MathJax will receive a damaged math structure, which
will not be rendered as the original notation would have been.
Typically, this will cause parts of your expression to not be
displayed. Unfortunately, there is nothing MathJax can do about that,
since the browser has incorrectly interpreted the tags long before
MathJax has a chance to work with them.
The component of MathJax that recognizes MathML notation within the
page is called the mml2jax extension, and it has only a few
configuration options; see the config/default.js file or the
mml2jax configuration options page for more
details. See the MathML page for more on
MathJax’s MathML support.
AsciiMath input¶
MathJax v2.0 introduced a new input format: AsciiMath notation.
For mathematics written in this form, you mark your mathematical
expressions by surrounding them in “back-ticks”, i.e., `...`.
Here is a complete sample page containing AsciiMath notation (also available in the test/sample-asciimath.html file):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MathJax AsciiMath Test Page</title>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=AM_HTMLorMML-full"></script>
</head>
<body>
<p>When `a != 0`, there are two solutions to `ax^2 + bx + c = 0` and
they are</p>
<p style="text-align:center">
`x = (-b +- sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2a) .`
</p>
</body>
</html>
The component of MathJax that recognizes asciimath notation within the
page is called the asciimath2jax extension, and it has only a few
configuration options; see the config/default.js file or the
asciimath2jax configuration options page for more
details. See the AsciiMath support page for more on
MathJax’s AsciiMath support.
Where to go from here?¶
If you have followed the instructions above, you should now have MathJax installed and configured on your web server, and you should be able to use it to write web pages that include mathematics. At this point, you can start making pages that contain mathematical content!
You could also read more about the details of how to customize MathJax.
If you are trying to use MathJax in blog or wiki software or in some other content-management system, you might want to read about using MathJax in popular platforms.
If you are working on dynamic pages that include mathematics, you might want to read about the MathJax Application Programming Interface (its API), so you know how to include mathematics in your interactive pages.
If you are having trouble getting MathJax to work, you can read more about installing MathJax, or loading and configuring MathJax.
Finally, if you have questions or comments, or want to help support MathJax, you could visit the MathJax community forums or the MathJax bug tracker.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Installing and Testing MathJax¶
The easiest way to use MathJax is to link directly to the MathJax distributed network service (see Using a cdn). In that case, there is no need to install MathJax yourself, and you can begin using MathJax right away; skip this document on installation and go directly to Configuring MathJax.
MathJax can be loaded from a public web server or privately from your
hard drive or other local media. To use MathJax in either way, you
will need to obtain a copy of MathJax. There are three ways to do
this: via git, svn, or via a pre-packaged archive. We
recommend git or svn, as it is easier to keep your
installation up to date with these tools.
Obtaining MathJax via an archive¶
Release versions of MathJax are available in archive files from the MathJax GitHub page (via the “zip” button, or the “downloads” tab), where you can download the archive that you need.
Current Version: MathJax-2.4 (32.6MB)
Consult the change log for what’s new in version 2.4.
For previous versions, see
- MathJax-2.3 (32.9MB)
- MathJax-2.2 (17.0MB)
- MathJax-2.1 (17.1MB)
- MathJax-2.0 (17.6MB)
- MathJax-1.1a (15.4MB)
- MathJax-1.1 (16.4MB)
- To install MathJax v1.0.1a, you must download two files: MathJax-v1.0.1a.zip and MathJax-Font-Update.zip. First install the MathJax-v1.01a.zip distribution. Then replace the
MathJax/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/otfdirectory in the resulting MathJax installation with the otf directory contained in theMathJax-Font-Update.ziparchive.
You should download the archive of the branch corresponding to the version
you need then simply unzip it.
Once the MathJax directory is unpacked, you should move it to the
desired location on your server (or your hard disk, if you are using
it locally rather then through a web server). One natural location is
to put it at the top level of your web server’s hierarchy. That would
let you refer to the main MathJax file as /MathJax/MathJax.js from
within any page on your server.
From the MathJax GitHub download link, you can also select
the Download .tar.gz or Download .zip buttons to get a copy of
the current development version of MathJax that contains all the
latest changes and bug-fixes.
If a packaged release receives any important updates, then those
updates will be part of the branch for that version. The link to
the .zip file in the download list will be the original release
version, not the patched version. To obtain the patched version, use
the Branches drop down menu (at the far left of the menus within the
page) to select the release branch that you want (for example
v2.1-latest), and then use the “zip” button just above it to get
the latest patched version of that release.
Obtaining MathJax via Git¶
The easiest way to get MathJax and keep it up to date is to use the Git version control system to access our GitHub repository. Use the command
git clone git://github.com/mathjax/MathJax.git MathJax
to obtain and set up a copy of MathJax. (Note that there is no longer
a fonts.zip file, as there was in v1.0, and that the fonts
directory is now part of the repository itself.)
Whenever you want to update MathJax, you can now use
cd MathJax
git remote show origin
to check if there are updates to MathJax (this will print several lines of data, but the last line should tell you if your copy is up to date or out of date). If MathJax needs updating, use
cd MathJax
git pull origin
to update your copy of MathJax to the current release version. If you keep MathJax updated in this way, you will be sure that you have the latest bug fixes and new features as they become available.
This gets you the current development copy of MathJax, which is the version that contains all the latest changes to MathJax. Although we try to make sure this version is a stable and usable version of MathJax, it is under active development, and at times it may be less stable than the “release” version. If you prefer to use the most stable version (that may not include all the latest patches and features), you will want to get one of the tagged releases. Use
cd MathJax
git tag -l
to see all tagged versions, and use
cd MathJax
git checkout <tag_name>
to checkout the indicated version of MathJax, where <tag_name> is
the name of the tagged version you want to use. When you want to
upgrade to a new release, you will need to repeat this for the latest
release tag.
Each of the main releases also has a branch in which critical updates are applied (we try hard not to patch the stable releases, but sometimes there is a crucial change that needs to be made). If you want to use the patched version of a release, then check out the branch rather than the tag. Use
cd MathJax
git branch
to get a list of the available branches. There are separate branches
for the main releases, but with -latest appended. These contain
all the patches for that particular release. You can check out one of
the branches just as you would a tagged copy. For example, the branch
for the v2.1 tagged release is v2.1-latest. To get this
release, use
cd MathJax
git checkout v2.1-latest
and to update it when changes occur, use
cd MathJax
git pull origin v2.1-latest
Obtaining MathJax via SVN¶
If you are more comfortable with the subversion source control system, you may want
to use GitHub’s svn service to obtain MathJax. If you want to get the
latest revision using svn, use the command
svn checkout http://github.com/mathjax/MathJax/trunk MathJax
to obtain and set up a copy of MathJax. (Note that there is no longer
a fonts.zip file as of v1.1, and that the fonts directory is
now part of the repository itself.)
Whenever you want to update MathJax, you can now use
cd MathJax
svn status -u
to check if there are updates to MathJax. If MathJax needs updating, use
cd MathJax
svn update
to update your copy of MathJax to the current release version. If you keep MathJax updated in this way, you will be sure that you have the latest bug fixes and new features as they become available.
This gets you the current development copy of MathJax, which is the version that contains all the latest changes to MathJax. Although we try to make sure this version is a stable and usable version of MathJax, it is under active development, and at times it may be less stable than the “release” version. If you prefer to use one of the tagged releases instead, then use
svn checkout https://github.com/mathjax/MathJax/branches/[name] MathJax
where [name] is replaced by the name of the branch you want to
check out; e.g., 2.1-latest. The branch names can be found on the
GitHub MathJax page under the
branches tab.
Obtaining MathJax via Bower¶
Starting with version 2.3, it is possible to use Bower to install MathJax. Assuming Bower is installed on your system, just execute the following command:
bower install MathJax
Testing your installation¶
Use the HTML files in the test directory to see if your
installation is working properly:
test/
index.html # Tests default configuration
index-images.html # Tests image-font fallback display
sample.html # Sample page with lots of pretty equations
examples.html # Page with links to all sample pages
Open these files in your browser to see that they appear to be working
properly. If you have installed MathJax on a server, use the web
address for those files rather than opening them locally. When you
view the index.html file, you should see (after a few moments) a
message that MathJax appears to be working. If not, you should check
that the files have been transferred to the server completely, and that
the permissions allow the server to access the files and folders that
are part of the MathJax directory (be sure to verify the MathJax
folder’s permissions as well). Checking the server logs may help
locate problems with the installation.
Firefox and local fonts¶
Firefox’s same-origin security policy affects its ability to load
web-based fonts, as described above. This has implications not only
to cross-domain loading of MathJax, but also to using MathJax locally
from your hard disk. Firefox’s interpretation of the same-origin
policy for local files is that the “same domain” for a page is the
directory where that page exists, or any of its subdirectories. So if
you use MathJax in a page with a file:// URL, and if MathJax is
loaded from a directory other than the one containing the original
page, then MathJax will not be able to access the web-based fonts in
Firefox. In that case, MathJax will fall back on image fonts to
display the mathematics.
In order for Firefox to be able to load the fonts properly for a local file, your MathJax installation must be in a subdirectory of the one containing the page that uses MathJax. This is an unfortunate restriction, but it is a limitiation imposed by Firefox’s security model that MathJax can not circumvent. Currently, this is not a problem for other browsers.
One solution to this problem is to install the MathJax fonts locally, so
that Firefox will not have to use web-based fonts in the first place. To
do that, either install the STIX fonts, or copy
the fonts from MathJax/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/otf into your systems fonts
directory and restart your browser (see the MathJax fonts help page for details).
IE9 and remote fonts¶
IE9’s same-origin policy affects its ability to load web-based fonts, as
described above. This has implications not ony to cross-domain loading of
MathJax, but also to the case where you view a local page (with a
file:// URL) that accesses MathJax from a remote site such as the MathJax
CDN service. In this case, IE9 does not honor the
Access-Control-Allow-Origin setting of the remote server (as it would
if the web page came from an http:// URL), and so it never allows the
font to be accessed.
One solution to this problem is to install the MathJax fonts locally so that MathJax doesn’t have to use web-based fonts in the first place. Your best bet is to install the STIX fonts on your system (see the MathJax fonts help page for details).
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Loading and Configuring MathJax¶
You load MathJax into a web page by including its main JavaScript file
into the page. That is done via a <script> tag that links to the
MathJax.js file. To do that, place the following line in the <head>
section of your document:
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
where path-to-MathJax is replaced by the URL of the copy of MathJax
that you are loading. For example, if you are using the MathJax
distributed network service, the tag might be
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js">
</script>
If you have installed MathJax yourself, path-to-MathJax will be the
location of MathJax on your server, or (if you are using MathJax locally
rather than through a server) the location of that directory on your hard
disk. For example, if the MathJax directory is at the top level of your
web server’s directory hierarchy, you might use
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
to load MathJax.
If you install MathJax on a server in a domain that is different from the one containing the page that will load MathJax, then there are issues involved in doing so that you need to take into consideration. See the Notes About Shared Servers for more details.
When you load MathJax, it is common to request a specific configuration file as discussed in the section on Using a Configuration File below, and in more detail in the Common Configurations section. A typical invocation of MathJax would be
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
which loads MathJax with a configuration file that includes everything you need in order to enter mathematics in either TeX, LaTeX, or MathML notation, and produces output using MathML if the browser supports that well enough, or HTML-with-CSS otherwise. If you don’t load an explicit configuration file, you will need to include an in-line configuration block in order to tell MathJax how to read and display the mathematics on your pages. See the section below on Using In-line Configuration Options for details.
It is best to load MathJax in the document’s <head> block, but it
is also possible to load MathJax into the <body> section, if
needed. If you do this, load it as early as possible, as
MathJax will begin to load its components as soon as it is included in
the page, and that will help speed up the processing of the
mathematics on your page. MathJax does expect there to be a
<head> section to the document, however, so be sure there is one
if you are loading MathJax in the <body>.
It is also possible to load MathJax dynamically after the page has been prepared, for example, via a GreaseMonkey script, or using a specially prepared bookmarklet. This is an advanced topic, however; see Loading MathJax Dynamically for more details.
Loading MathJax from a CDN¶
MathJax is available as a web service from various free CDN providers, so you can obtain MathJax from there without needing to install it on your own server.
Warning
We retired our self-hosted CDN at cdn.mathjax.org in April, 2017.
We recommend using cdnjs.com which uses the same provider.
The use of cdn.mathjax.org was governed by its terms of service.
A CDN is part of a distributed “cloud” network, so it is handled by servers around the world. That means that you should get access to a server geographically near you, for a fast, reliable connection.
Most CDN services offer several versions of MathJax. For example, cdnjs hosts all tagged versions since v1.1 so you can link to the version you prefer.
Note
There is currently no provider who offers a rolling release link, i.e, a link that updates to each newer version of MathJax upon release.
The URL that you use to obtain MathJax determines the version that you get. For example, cdnjs uses a URL that includes the version tag so you can load the current version via
https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.4.0/MathJax.js # the 2.4.0 release
Pre-releases are also available on cdnjs.
Note
If you wish to use the development version of MathJax, you will need to install your own copy; see Installing and Testing MathJax for information on how to do that.
If you wish to use a CDN but use your own configuration file rather than one of the pre-defined ones, see the information at the end of the Using a Local Configuration File section below.
Configuring MathJax¶
There are two ways to configure MathJax: via a configuration file, or by including configuration commands within the web page itself. These can be used independently, or in combination. For example, you can load a main pre-defined configuration file, but include in-line commands to adjust the configuration to your needs.
Note that you must use at least one of these two forms of configuration.
Unlike MathJax v1.0, version 1.1 and higher does not load a default
configuration file. If you have been using version 1.0’s
config/MathJax.js for your configuration, you will need to load that
configuration file explicitly via a config parameter, as described
below.
Using a configuration file¶
The first way to configure MathJax is to use a configuration file.
MathJax comes with a number of pre-defined configuration files, which are
stored in the MathJax/config directory. Among these are the following
-
default.js A file that contains nearly all the configuration options with comments describing them, which you can edit to suit your needs.
-
TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML.js Allows math to be specified in TeX, LaTeX, or MathML notation, with the AMSmath and AMSsymbols packages included, producing output using MathML if the browser supports it sufficiently, and HTML-with-CSS otherwise.
-
TeX-AMS_HTML.js Allows math to be specified in TeX or LaTeX notation, with the AMSmath and AMSsymbols packages included, and produces output using the HTML-CSS output processor.
-
MML_HTMLorMML.js Allows math to be specified using MathML notation, and produces MathML output if the browser supports it sufficiently, or HTML-CSS output otherwise.
-
AM_HTMLorMML.js Allows math to be specified using AsciiMath notation, producing output in MathML if the browser supports it sufficiently, or as HTML-with-CSS otherwise.
-
TeX-AMS-MML_SVG.js Allows math to be specified in TeX, LaTeX, or MathML notation, with the AMSmath and AMSsymbols packages included, producing output using SVG.
-
TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML.js Allows math to be specified in TeX, LaTeX, MathML, or AsciiMath notation, with the AMSmath and AMSsymbols packages included, producing output using MathML if the browser supports it sufficiently, and HTML-with-CSS otherwise.
The first of these is a file that you can edit to suit your needs. It contains nearly all the configuration options that MathJax allows, and has comments explaining them. The others are what are called combined configuration files, which not only configure MathJax, but also pre-load the various files that the configuration requires. (The contents of these files are explained in more detail in the Common Configurations section.)
Usually, MathJax loads its components only when they are needed, but each component will require a separate file to be loaded, and that can cause delays before the mathematics is displayed. The combined configuration files load the majority of the needed files all as one large file, reducing the number of network requests that are needed. That means you will probably be getting the components that MathJax needs faster than you would without the combined file, but you may be loading components that are never actually used; that is the trade off.
Each of the combined configuration files comes in two flavors: the ones
listed above, which only configure the output processors but don’t include
the main code, and a “full” version, that also includes the complete
output processors. For example, with TeX-AMS_HTML.js and
TeX-AMS_HTML-full.js, the latter includes the complete HTML-CSS output
processor. The “full” configuration files are substantially larger (on
the order of 70KB more), so you need to decide whether it is worth loading the
full configuration for your pages.
If most of your pages include mathematics, then it is to your advantage to load the full version, but if you are including MathJax in a theme file for a blog or wiki that only includes mathematics occasionally, then perhaps it is better to use the standard configuration instead, in which case the output processors are only loaded when they are actually needed, saving the loading of 70KB for pages that don’t. Of course, if your server is configured to compress the files it sends, the difference between the two is considerably reduced. Furthermore, most browsers will cache the javascript they receive, so the download cost should only occur on the first page a user views, so it may be best to use the “full” version after all. Note, however, that mobile devices sometimes have limits on the size of files that they cache, so they may be forced to download the configuration on every page. You need to keep these issues in mind as you decide on which configuration to use.
To load a configuration file, use config=filename (where filename
is one of the names above without the .js) as a parameter to the URL of
the MathJax.js file. For example
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
loads the config/TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML.js configuration file from the
MathJax distributed network service.
You can include more than one configuration file by separating them with
commas. For example, if you have a locally defined configuration file
called MathJax/config/local/local.js that modifies the settings for the
TeX-AMS_HML configuration, defines some new TeX macros, and so on, you
can use
<script type="text/javascript"
src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML,local/local">
</script>
to first load the main configuration, then the local modifications.
Using a local configuration file with a cdn¶
You can load MathJax from a cdn server but still use a
configuration from your own local server. For example, suppose you
have a configuration file called local.js on your own server, in a
directory called MathJax/config/local. Then you can load MathJax
from a cdn and still use your configuration file as follows:
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML,http://myserver.com/MathJax/config/local/local.js">
</script>
Because the local.js file is not on a cdn server, you must give
the complete URL to the local configuration file. Note that you also
have to edit the loadComplete() call that is at the bottom of
the configuration file to change it from
[MathJax]/config/local/local.js to the complete URL as you give it
in the config parameter. In the example above, it would be
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("http://myserver.com/MathJax/config/local/local.js");
That is because the [MathJax] in the original URL refers to the
root directory where MathJax.js was loaded, which is on a cdn,
not your local server, and so you need to tell MathJax the actual
location of your configuration file.
Using in-line configuration options¶
The second way to configure MathJax is through in-line configuration,
which puts the configuration options within the web page itself. The use
of in-line configuration with MathJax requires two separate <script>
tags: one for specifying the configuration settings and one for loading of
MathJax. Because MathJax starts its configuration process as soon as it is
loaded, the configuration script must come before the script tag that
loads MathJax.js itself. You do this by including a <script> with
type="text/x-mathjax-config" whose content will be run when
MathJax performs its configuration. Generally, this script will
include a MathJax.Hub.Config() call to perform MathJax
configuration, but it can also include other MathJax commands, such as
registering signal actions, or any JavaScript commands that you want.
You can have as many such script tags as you need, and MathJax will
process them in the order in which they appear in the document.
For instance,
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
extensions: ["tex2jax.js"],
jax: ["input/TeX", "output/HTML-CSS"],
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ["\\(","\\)"] ],
displayMath: [ ['$$','$$'], ["\\[","\\]"] ],
processEscapes: true
},
"HTML-CSS": { availableFonts: ["TeX"] }
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js">
</script>
This example includes the tex2jax preprocessor and configures it to use
both the standard TeX and LaTeX math delimiters. It uses
the TeX input processor and the HTML-CSS output processor, and forces the
HTML-CSS processor to use the TeX fonts rather than other locally installed
fonts (e.g., STIX fonts). See the configuration options section (or the comments in the config/default.js
file) for more information about the configuration options that you can
include in the MathJax.Hub.Config() call. This
configuration does not load any pre-defined configuration file.
Note that you can combine in-line configuration with file-based
configuration; simply include text/x-mathjax-config scripts as above,
but also include config=filename when you load the MathJax.js
file. For example, the tex2jax preprocessor does not enable the TeX
single-dollar in-line math delimiters by default. You can load one of the
pre-defined configuration files that includes the TeX preprocessor, and use
an in-line configuration block to enable the single-dollar signs, as
in this example:
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ["\\(","\\)"] ],
processEscapes: true
}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML">
</script>
Starting with MathJax version 2.3, it is possible to set window.MathJax to
a configuration object in any Javascript code before MathJax’s startup.
MathJax will then use that object for its initial configuration. For instance
the previous example becomes:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.MathJax = {
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ["\\(","\\)"] ],
processEscapes: true
}
};
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML">
</script>
Similarly to text/x-mathjax-config, you can enter arbitrary code to execute
during the configuration phase. You just need to put that code in an
AuthorInit function:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.MathJax = {
AuthorInit: function () {
... initialization code ...
}
};
</script>
Note that this initialization code runs before the
MathJax.Hub.queue is set up, so if you want to queue additional
actions during the AuthorInit function, use
<script type="text/javascript">
window.MathJax = {
AuthorInit: function () {
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("Begin",function () {
MathJax.Hub.Queue(
... your actions here ...
)
});
}
};
</script>
Configuring MathJax after it is loaded¶
Because MathJax begins its configuration process immediately after it is
loaded (so that it can start loading files as quickly as it can), the
configuration blocks for MathJax must come before MathJax.js is loaded,
so they will be available to MathJax when it starts up. There are
situations, however, when you might want to put off configuring MathJax
until later in the page.
One such situation is when you have a site that loads MathJax as part of a
theme or template, but want to be able to modify the configuration on
specific pages of the site. To accomplish this, you need to ask MathJax
to delay its startup configuration until some later time. MathJax uses
the delayStartupUntil parameter to control the timing of the startup
sequence. By default, it is set to none, meaning there is no delay
and MathJax starts configuration right away.
You can set delayStartupUntil=onload in order to prevent MathJax from
continuing its startup process until the page’s onLoad handler fires. This
allows MathJax to find the text/x-mathjax-config blocks that occur
anywhere on the page, not just the ones that appear above the <script>
that loads MathJax.js. It also means that MathJax will not begin
loading any of the files that it needs until then as well, which may delay
the displaying of your mathematics, since the onLoad handler doesn’t
execute until all the images and other media are available. (If you have
used a combined configuration file, however, it already includes all the
main files that MathJax needs, so there is not much loss in delaying the
startup.)
You can set delayStartupUntil=configured in order to delay the
startup configuration until the MathJax.Hub.Configured()
method is called. This allows you to delay startup until later on the
page, but then restart the MathJax configuration process as soon as
possible rather than waiting for the entire page to load. For
example, you could use
<script type="text/javascript"
src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML&delayStartupUntil=configured">
</script>
in your theme’s header file, and
<script type="text/javascript">
MathJax.Hub.Configured()
</script>
in its footer, so that MathJax will delay setting up until the footer
is reached, but will not have to wait until images and other files are
loaded. In this way, if you have text/x-mathjax-config script
tags within the main body of the document, MathJax will read and
process those before continuing its startup. In this way you can use
a default configuration that can be modified on a page-by-page basis.
Note that MathJax.Hub.Configured() is not called by MathJax;
you must make that call somewhere within the page yourself after the
configuration blocks are set up. If you do not execute this function,
MathJax will not process any of the math on the page.
Details of the MathJax configuration process¶
Since there are a number of different ways to configure MathJax, it is important to know how they interact. The configuration actions are the following:
- Execute
AuthorInit()from in-lineMathJax = {...}. - Process any configuration file explicitly specified as a script parameter via config=.
- Perform author configuration from in-line
MathJax = {...} - Process the in-line script body (deprecated), if present.
- If delayed startup is requested, wait for the indicated signal.
- Process
text/x-mathjax-configconfig blocks. - Process any config files queued in the configuration’s config array by earlier config code.
Note that text/x-mathjax-config script blocks must either precede
the MathJax.js script element, or you must request a delayed
startup. Otherwise, blocks that follow the MathJax.js script
element may or may not be available when MathJax runs, and
browser-dependent erratic behavior will result. Similarly,
window.MathJax must be created before MathJax.js is loaded.
If you set the MathJax variable afterward, you will disable
MathJax entirely!
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Common Configurations¶
MathJax comes with a number of pre-defined configuration files in the
MathJax/config directory. The default.js file contains nearly all
the possible configuration options together with comments explaining them,
so you can use that file to customize MathJax to your needs. Simply load
it via
<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js?config=default"></script>
where path-to-MathJax is the URL to the MathJax directory on your
server or hard disk. If you are using MathJax from a cdn, you can
view the contents of default.js as a
reference, but you will not be able to edit a cdn copy. It is
possible to use a cdn copy of MathJax with your own configuration
file, however; see Using a Local Configuration File with a cdn for details.
The remaining files in the MathJax/config directory are
combined configuration files that include not just configuration
parameters but also the files that MathJax would need to load for
those configurations; you can browse the directory on Github. This
means MathJax will have to load fewer files, and since each file access requires
establishing connections over the network, it can be faster to load one larger
file than several smaller ones. See Loading and Configuring MathJax for more details about how to load configurations, and how
to modify the parameters for a configuration file.
The following sections describe the contents of the combined configuration
files. Each comes in two flavors: a standard version and a “full” version.
The standard version simply defines the output processor(s) that are part
of the configuration, but doesn’t load the code that implements the output
processor. The full version loads the complete output processors, so
everything that MathJax needs for the page should be loaded up front, and
there will be no delay once the page is ready to be processed. To obtain
the “full” version, add -full to the end of the configuration file
name.
The TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML configuration file¶
This configuration file is the most general of the pre-defined configurations. It loads all the main MathJax components, including the TeX, MathML, and AsciiMath preprocessors and input processors, the AMSmath, AMSsymbols, noErrors, and noUndefined TeX extensions, both the native MathML and HTML-with-CSS output processor definitions, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/TeX","input/MathML","input/AsciiMath","output/HTML-CSS","output/NativeMML"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","mml2jax.js","asciimath2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"],
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js","noErrors.js","noUndefined.js"]
}
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax, the TeX, MathML, and AsciiMath input jax main code (not just the definition files), as well as the toMathML extension, which is used by the Show Source option in the MathJax contextual menu. The -full version also loads both the HTML-CSS and NativeMML output jax main code, plus the HTML-CSS mtable extension, which is normally loaded on demand.
See the tex2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the tex2jax preprocessor, and the
TeX input jax configuration section for options
that control the TeX input processor.
See the mml2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the mml2jax preprocessor, and the
MathML input jax configuration section for
options that control the MathML input processor.
See the asciimath2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the asciimath2jax preprocessor, and the
AsciiMath input jax configuration section for
options that control the AsciiMath input processor.
See MathJax Output Formats for more
information on the NativeMML and HTML-CSS output processors. See the
MMLorHTML configuration section for
details on the options that control the MMLorHTML configuration.
The TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML configuration file¶
This configuration file is the most commonly used of the pre-defined configurations. It loads all the main MathJax components, including the TeX and MathML preprocessors and input processors, the AMSmath, AMSsymbols, noErrors, and noUndefined TeX extensions, both the native MathML and HTML-with-CSS output processor definitions, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/TeX","input/MathML","output/HTML-CSS","output/NativeMML"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","mml2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"],
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js","noErrors.js","noUndefined.js"]
}
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax, the TeX and MathML input
jax main code (not just the definition files), as well as the
toMathML extension, which is used by the Show Source option in the
MathJax contextual menu. The -full version also loads both the
HTML-CSS and NativeMML output jax main code, plus the HTML-CSS
mtable extension, which is normally loaded on demand.
See the tex2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the tex2jax preprocessor, and the
TeX input jax configuration section for options
that control the TeX input processor.
See the mml2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the mml2jax preprocessor, and the
MathML input jax configuration section for
options that control the MathML input processor.
See MathJax Output Formats for more
information on the NativeMML and HTML-CSS output processors. See the
MMLorHTML configuration section for
details on the options that control the MMLorHTML configuration.
The TeX-AMS_HTML configuration file¶
This configuration file is for sites that only use TeX format for their mathematics, and that want the output to be as close to TeX output as possible. This uses the HTML-CSS output jax (even when the user’s browser understands MathML). The user can still use the MathJax contextual menu to select the NativeMML output jax if they desire.
This file includes all the important MathJax components for TeX input and output, including the tex2jax preprocessor and TeX input jax, the AMSmath, AMSsymbols, noErrors, and noUndefined TeX extensions, the HTML-with-CSS output processor definition, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"],
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js","noErrors.js","noUndefined.js"]
}
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax and the TeX input jax main code
(not just the definition file), as well as the toMathML extension, which
is used by the Show Source option in the MathJax contextual menu. The -full
version also loads the HTML-CSS output jax main code, plus the HTML-CSS
mtable extension, which is normally loaded on demand.
See the tex2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the tex2jax preprocessor, and the
TeX input jax configuration section for options
that control the TeX input processor.
See MathJax Output Formats for more
information on the HTML-CSS output processor.
The MML_HTMLorMML configuration file¶
This configuration file is for sites that only use MathML format for their mathematics. It will use MathML output in browsers where that is supported well, and HTML-CSS output otherwise. The user can still use the MathJax contextual menu to select the other output format if they desire.
This file includes all the important MathJax components for MathML input and output, including the mml2jax preprocessor and MathML input jax, the NativeMML and HTML-CSS output processor definition files, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/MathML","output/HTML-CSS","output/NativeMML"],
extensions: ["mml2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"]
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax and the MathML input jax main
code (not just the definition file), as well as the toMathML extension,
which is used by the Show Source option in the MathJax contextual menu.
The -full version also loads both the HTML-CSS and NativeMML output jax main
code files, plus the HTML-CSS mtable extension, which is normally loaded
on demand.
See the mml2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the mml2jax preprocessor, and the
MathML input jax configuration section for
options that control the MathML input processor.
See MathJax Output Formats for more
information on the NativeMML and HTML-CSS output processors. See the
MMLorHTML configuration section for
details on the options that control the MMLorHTML configuration.
The AM_HTMLorMML configuration file¶
This configuration file is for sites that only use AsciiMath format for their mathematics. It will use MathML output in browsers where that is supported well, and HTML-CSS output otherwise. The user can still use the MathJax contextual menu to select the other output format if they desire.
This file includes all the important MathJax components for AsciiMath input and output, including the asciimath2jax preprocessor and AsciiMath input jax, the NativeMML and HTML-CSS output processor definition files, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/AsciiMath","output/HTML-CSS","output/NativeMML"],
extensions: ["asciimath2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"]
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax and the TeX input jax main code
(not just the definition file), as well as the toMathML extension, which
is used by the Show Source option in the MathJax contextual menu. The -full
version also loads the HTML-CSS output jax main code, plus the HTML-CSS
mtable extension, which is normally loaded on demand.
See the asciimath2jax configuration
section for other configuration options for the asciimath2jax
preprocessor, and the AsciiMath input jax configuration section for options that control the AsciiMath
input processor. See MathJax Output Formats
for more information on the HTML-CSS and NativeMML output processors.
See the MMLorHTML configuration section
for details on the options that control the MMLorHTML
configuration.
The TeX-AMS-MML_SVG configuration file¶
This configuration file is the same as TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML except that it uses the SVG output renderer rather than the NativeMML or HTML-CSS ones. It loads all the main MathJax components, including the TeX and MathML preprocessors and input processors, the AMSmath, AMSsymbols, noErrors, and noUndefined TeX extensions, the SVG output processor definitions, and the MathMenu and MathZoom extensions. It is equivalent to the following configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","input/MathML","output/SVG"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","mml2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"],
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js","noErrors.js","noUndefined.js"]
}
});
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax, the TeX and MathML input
jax main code (not just the definition files), as well as the
toMathML extension, which is used by the Show Source option in the
MathJax contextual menu. The -full version also loads both the
SVG output jax main code, plus the SVG mtable extension, which
is normally loaded on demand.
See the tex2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the tex2jax preprocessor, and the
TeX input jax configuration section for options
that control the TeX input processor.
See the mml2jax configuration section for
other configuration options for the mml2jax preprocessor, and the
MathML input jax configuration section for
options that control the MathML input processor.
See MathJax Output Formats for more
information on the SVG output processor.
The Accessible configuration file¶
This configuration file is essentially the same as
TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML except that it includes options that are
designed for assistive technology, particularly for those with visual
challenges. This file is deprecated since the controls that make
MathJax work with screen readers are now available in the MathJax
contextual menu, and so there is no need to set them in the
configuration file any longer. So you can use any of the other
pre-defined configurations and readers with special needs should be
able to change the MathJax settings themselves to be appropriate for
their software.
The Accessible configuration is equivalent to the following:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/TeX","input/MathML","output/HTML-CSS","output/NativeMML"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","mml2jax.js","MathMenu.js","MathZoom.js"],
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js","noErrors.js","noUndefined.js"]
},
menuSettings: {
zoom: "Double-Click",
mpContext: true,
mpMouse: true
},
errorSettings: { message: ["[Math Error]"] }
});
This turns off the MathJax contextual menu for IE when MathPlayer is active, and passes mouse events on to MathPlayer to allow screen readers full access to MathPlayer. It also sets the zoom trigger to double-click, so that readers can see a larger version of the mathematics by double-clicking on any equation.
In addition, it loads the mml Element Jax, the TeX and MathML input jax
main code (not just the definition files), as well as the toMathML
extension, which is used by the Show Source option in the MathJax
contextual menu. The -full version also loads both the HTML-CSS and
NativeMML output jax main code, plus the HTML-CSS mtable extension, which
is normally loaded on demand.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax TeX and LaTeX Support¶
The support for TeX and LaTeX in MathJax consists of two
parts: the tex2jax preprocessor, and the TeX input processor. The
first of these looks for mathematics within your web page (indicated by
math delimiters like $$...$$) and marks the mathematics for later
processing by MathJax. The TeX input processor is what converts the TeX
notation into MathJax’s internal format, where one of MathJax’s output
processors then displays it in the web page.
The tex2jax preprocessor can be configured to look for whatever markers you want to use for your math delimiters. See the tex2jax configuration options section for details on how to customize the action of tex2jax.
The TeX input processor handles conversion of your mathematical notation into MathJax’s internal format (which is essentially MathML), and so acts as a TeX to MathML converter. The TeX input processor has few configuration options (see the TeX options section for details), but it can also be customized through the use of extensions that define additional functionality (see the TeX and LaTeX extensions below).
Note that the TeX input processor implements only the math-mode
macros of TeX and LaTeX, not the text-mode macros. MathJax expects
that you will use standard HTML tags to handle formatting the text of
your page; it only handles the mathematics. So, for example, MathJax
does not implement \emph or
\begin{enumerate}...\end{enumerate} or other text-mode macros or
environments. You must use HTML to handle such formatting tasks. If
you need a LaTeX-to-HTML converter, you should consider other options.
TeX and LaTeX math delimiters¶
By default, the tex2jax preprocessor defines the LaTeX math delimiters,
which are \(...\) for in-line math, and \[...\] for displayed
equations. It also defines the TeX delimiters $$...$$ for displayed
equations, but it does not define $...$ as in-line math
delimiters. That is because dollar signs appear too often in
non-mathematical settings, which could cause some text to be treated
as mathematics unexpectedly. For example, with single-dollar
delimiters, “… the cost is $2.50 for the first one, and $2.00 for
each additional one …” would cause the phrase “2.50 for the first
one, and” to be treated as mathematics since it falls between dollar
signs. For this reason, if you want to use single-dollars for in-line
math mode, you must enable that explicitly in your configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)']],
processEscapes: true
}
});
Note that if you do this, you may want to also set processEscapes to
true, as in the example above, so that you can use \$ to prevent a
dollar sign from being treated as a math delimiter within the text of your
web page. (Note that within TeX mathematics, \$ always has this
meaning; processEscapes only affects the treatment of the opening
math delimiter.)
See the config/default.js file, or the tex2jax configuration
options page, for additional configuration
parameters that you can specify for the tex2jax preprocessor,
which is the component of MathJax that identifies TeX notation within
the page.
TeX and LaTeX in HTML documents¶
Keep in mind that your mathematics is part of an HTML document, so you
need to be aware of the special characters used by HTML as part of its
markup. There cannot be HTML tags within the math delimiters (other
than <br>) as TeX-formatted math does not include HTML tags.
Also, since the mathematics is initially given as text on the page,
you need to be careful that your mathematics doesn’t look like HTML
tags to the browser (which parses the page before MathJax gets to see
it). In particular, that means that you have to be careful about
things like less-than and greater-than signs (< and >), and
ampersands (&), which have special meaning to the browsers. For
example,
... when $x<y$ we have ...
will cause a problem, because the brower will think <y is the
beginning of a tag named y (even though there is no such tag in
HTML). When this happens, the browser will think the tag continues up
to the next > in the document (typically the end of the next
actual tag in the HTML file), and you may notice that you are missing
part of the text of the document. In the example above, the “we
have ...” will not be displayed because the browser thinks it is
part of the tag starting at <y. This is one indication you can
use to spot this problem; it is a common error and should be avoided.
Usually, it is sufficient to simply put spaces around these symbols to cause the browser to avoid them, so
... when $x < y$ we have ...
should work. Alternatively, you can use the HTML entities <,
> and & to encode these characters so that the browser
will not interpret them, but MathJax will. E.g.,
... when $x < y$ we have ...
Finally, there are \lt and \gt macros defined to make it
easier to enter < and > using TeX-like syntax:
... when $x \lt y$ we have ...
Keep in mind that the browser interprets your text before MathJax does.
Another source of difficulty is when MathJax is used in content
management systems that have their own document processing commands
that are interpreted before the HTML page is created. For example,
many blogs and wikis use formats like Markdown to allow you to
create the content of you pages. In Markdown, the underscore is used
to indicate italics, and this usage will conflict with MathJax’s use
of the underscore to indicate a subscript. Since Markdown is applied
to the page first, it will convert your subscripts markers into
italics (inserting <i> tags into your mathematics, which will
cause MathJax to ignore the math).
Such systems need to be told not to modify the mathematics that appears between math delimiters. That usually involves modifying the content-management system itself, which is beyond the means of most page authors. If you are lucky, someone else will already have done this for you, and you can find a MathJax plugin for your system on the MathJax-In-Use page page.
If there is no plugin for your system, or if it doesn’t handle the
subtleties of issolating the mathematics from the other markup that it
supports, then you may have to “trick” it into leaving your
mathematics untouched. Most content-management systems provide some
means of indicating text that should not be modified (“verbatim”
text), often for giving code snippets for computer languages.
You may be use that to enclose your mathematics so that the system
leaves it unchanged and MathJax can process it. For example, in
Markdown, the back-tick (`) is used to mark verbatim text, so
... we have `\(x_1 = 132\)` and `\(x_2 = 370\)` and so ...
may be able to protect the underscores from being processed by Markdown.
Some content-management systems use the backslash (\) as a special
character for “escaping” other characters, but TeX uses this character
to indicate a macro name. In such systems, you may have to double the
backslashes in order to obtain a single backslash in your HTML page.
For example, you may have to do
\\begin{array}{cc}
a & b \\\\
c & c
\\end{array}
to get an array with the four entries a, b, c, and d. Note in
particular that if you want \\ you will have to double both
backslashes, giving \\\\.
Finally, if you have enabled single dollar-signs as math delimiters,
and you want to include a literal dollar sign in your web page (one
that doesn’t represent a math delimiter), you will need to prevent
MathJax from using it as a math delimiter. If you also enable the
processEscapes configuration parameter, then you can use \$ in
the text of your page to get a dollar sign (without the backslash) in
the end. Alternatively, you use something like
<span>$</span> to isolate the dollar sign so that
MathJax will not use it as a delimiter.
Defining TeX macros¶
You can use the \def, \newcommand, \renewcommand,
\newenvironment, \renewenvironment, and \let commands to
create your own macros and environments. Unlike actual TeX, however,
in order for MathJax to process these, they must be enclosed in math
delimiters (since MathJax only processes macros in math-mode). For
example
\(
\def\RR{\bf R}
\def\bold#1{\bf #1}
\)
would define \RR to produce a bold-faced “R”, and \bold{...}
to put its argument into bold face. Both definitions would be
available throughout the rest of the page.
You can include macro definitions in the Macros section of the TeX blocks of your configuration, but they must be represented as JavaScript objects. For example, the two macros above can be pre-defined in the configuration by
MathJax.Hub.Config({
TeX: {
Macros: {
RR: "{\\bf R}",
bold: ["{\\bf #1}",1]
}
}
});
Here you give the macro as a name:value pair, where the name is the name of the control sequence (without the backslash) that you are defining, and value is either the replacement string for the macro (when there are no arguments) or an array consisting of the replacement string followed by the number of arguments for the macro.
Note that the replacement string is given as a JavaScript string literal, and the backslash has special meaning in JavaScript strings. So to get an actual backslash in the string you must double it, as in the examples above.
If you have many such definitions that you want to use on more than
one page, you could put them into a configuration file that you can
load along with the main configuration file. For example, you could
create a file in MathJax/config/local called local.js that
contains your macro definitions:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
TeX: {
Macros: {
RR: "{\\bf R}",
bold: ["{\\bf #1}",1]
}
}
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/config/local/local.js");
and then load it along with your main configuration file on the script
that loads MathJax.js:
<script src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML,local/local.js"></script>
If you are using a cdn, you can make a local configuration file on your own server, and load MathJax itself from a cdn and your configuration file from your server. See Using a Local Configuration File with a cdn for details.
Automatic Equation Numbering¶
New in MathJax v2.0 is the ability to have equations be numbered automatically. This functionality is turned off by default, so that pages don’t change when you update from v1.1 to v2.0, but it is easy to configure MathJax to produce automatic equation numbers by adding:
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
TeX: { equationNumbers: { autoNumber: "AMS" } }
});
</script>
to your page just before the <script> tag that loads
MathJax.js itself.
Equations can be numbered in two ways: either number the AMSmath
environments as LaTeX would, or number all displayed equations (the
example above uses AMS-style numbering). Set autoNumber to
"all" if you want every displayed equation to be numbered.
You can use \notag or \nonumber to prevent
individual equations from being numbered, and \tag{} can be used
to override the usual equation number with your own symbol instead.
Note that the AMS environments come in two forms: starred and
unstarred. The unstarred versions produce equation numbers (when
autoNumber is set to "AMS") and the starred ones don’t. For
example
\begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
will be numbered, while
\begin{equation*}
e^{\pi i} + 1 = 0
\end{equation*}
won’t be numbered (when autoNumber is "AMS").
You can use \label to give an equation an identifier that you can
use to refer to it later, and then use \ref or \eqref within
your document to insert the actual equation number at that location,
as a reference. For example,
In equation \eqref{eq:sample}, we find the value of an
interesting integral:
\begin{equation}
\int_0^\infty \frac{x^3}{e^x-1}\,dx = \frac{\pi^4}{15}
\label{eq:sample}
\end{equation}
includes a labeled equation and a reference to that equation. Note that references can come before the corresponding formula as well as after them. See the equation numbering links in the MathJax examples page for more examples.
You can configure the way that numbers are displayed and how the
references to them are made using parameters in the equationNumbers
block of your TeX configuration. See the TeX configuration
options page for more details.
TeX and LaTeX extensions¶
While MathJax includes nearly all of the Plain TeX math macros, and
many of the LaTeX macros and environments, not everything is
implemented in the core TeX input processor. Some less-used commands
are defined in extensions to the TeX processor. MathJax will load
some extensions automatically when you first use the commands they
implement (for example, the \def and \newcommand macros are
implemented in the newcommand.js extension, but MathJax loads
this extension itself when you use those macros). Not all extensions
are set up to load automatically, however, so you may need to request
some extensions explicitly yourself.
To enable any of the TeX extensions, simply add the appropriate string
(e.g., "AMSmath.js") to the extensions array in the TeX block
of your configuration. If you use one of the combined configuration files,
like TeX-AMS_HTML, this will already include several of the extensions
automatically, but you can include others using a mathjax configuration
script prior to loading MathJax. For example
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({ TeX: { extensions: ["autobold.js"] }});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML">
</script>
will load the autobold TeX extension in addition to those already
included in the TeX-AMS_HTML configuration file.
You can also load these extensions from within a math expresion using
the non-standard \require{extension} macro. For example
\(\require{color}\)
would load the color extension into the page. This way you you can load extensions into pages that didn’t load them in their configurations (and prevents you from having to load all the extensions into all pages even if they aren’t used).
It is also possible to create a macro that will autoload an extension when it is first used (under the assumption that the extension will redefine it to perform its true function). For example
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready",function () {
MathJax.Hub.Insert(MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.macros,{
cancel: ["Extension","cancel"],
bcancel: ["Extension","cancel"],
xcancel: ["Extension","cancel"],
cancelto: ["Extension","cancel"]
});
});
</script>
would declare the \cancel, \bcancel, \xcancel, and
\cancelto macros to load the cancel extension (where they are
actually defined). Whichever is used first will cause the extension
to be loaded, redefining all four to their proper values. Note that
this may be better than loading the extension explicitly, since it
avoids loading the extra file on pages where these macros are not
used. The sample autoloading macros
example page shows this in action. The autoload-all extension below
defines such macros for all the extensions so that if you include
it, MathJax will have access to all the macros it knows about.
The main extensions are described below.
Action¶
The action extension gives you access to the MathML <maction>
element. It defines three new non-standard macros:
-
\mathtip{math}{tip} Use
tip(in math mode) as tooltip formath.
-
\texttip{math}{tip} Use
tip(in text mode) as tooltip formath.
-
\toggle{math1}{math2}...\endtoggle Show
math1, and when clicked, showmath2, and so on. When the last one is clicked, go back to math1.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["action.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
AMSmath and AMSsymbols¶
The AMSmath extension implements AMS math environments and macros, and the AMSsymbols extension implements macros for accessing the AMS symbol fonts. These are already included in the combined configuration files that load the TeX input processor. To use these extensions in your own configurations, add them to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMSmath.js", "AMSsymbols.js", ...]
}
See the list of control sequences at the end of this document for details about what commands are implemented in these extensions.
If you are not using one of the combined configuration files, the AMSmath extension will be loaded automatically when you first use one of the math environments it defines, but you will have to load it explicitly if you want to use the other macros that it defines. The AMSsymbols extension is not loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly if you want to use the macros it defines.
Both extensions are included in all the combined configuration files that load the TeX input processor.
AMScd¶
The AMScd extensions implements the CD environment for commutative diagrams. See the AMScd guide for more information on how to use the CD environment.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["AMScd.js"]
}
Alternatively, if the extension hasn’t been loaded in the
configuration, you can use \require{AMScd} to load it from within a
TeX expression. Note that you only need to include this once on the
page, not every time the CD environment is used.
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
Autobold¶
The autobold extension adds \boldsymbol{...} around mathematics that
appears in a section of an HTML page that is in bold.
TeX: {
extensions: ["autobold.js"]
}
This extension is not loaded by the combined configuration files.
BBox¶
The bbox extension defines a new macro for adding background colors, borders, and padding to your math expressions.
-
\bbox[options]{math} puts a bounding box around
mathusing the providedoptions. The options can be one of the following:- A color name used for the background color.
- A dimension (e.g.,
2px) to be used as a padding around the mathematics (on all sides). - Style attributes to be applied to the mathematics (e.g.,
border:1px solid red). - A combination of these separated by commas.
Here are some examples:
\bbox[red]{x+y} % a red box behind x+y
\bbox[2pt]{x+1} % an invisible box around x+y with 2pt of extra space
\bbox[red,2pt]{x+1} % a red box around x+y with 2pt of extra space
\bbox[5px,border:2px solid red]
% a 2px red border around the math 5px away
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, but it will be loaded automatically, so you do not need to include it in your extensions array.
Begingroup¶
The begingroup extension implements commands that provide a mechanism for localizing macro defintions so that they are not permanent. This is useful if you have a blog site, for example, and want to isolate changes that your readers make in their comments so that they don’t affect later comments.
It defines two new non-standard macros, \begingroup and
\endgroup, that are used to start and stop a local namespace for
macros. Any macros that are defined between the \begingroup and
\endgroup will be removed after the \endgroup is executed.
For example, if you put \(\begingroup\) at the top of each reader’s
comments and \(\endgroup\) at the end, then any macros they define
within their response will be removed after it is processed.
In addition to these two macros, the begingroup extension defines
the standard \global and \gdef control sequences from TeX.
(The \let, \def, \newcommand, and \newenvironment
control sequences are already defined in the core TeX input jax.)
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["begingroup.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
Cancel¶
The cancel extension defines the following macros:
-
\cancel{math} Strikeout
mathfrom lower left to upper right.
-
\bcancel{math} Strikeout
mathfrom upper left to lower right.
-
\xcancel{math} Strikeout
mathwith an “X”.
-
\cancelto{value}{math} Strikeout
mathwith an arrow going tovalue.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["cancel.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
Color¶
The \color command in the core TeX input jax is not standard in
that it takes the mathematics to be colored as one of its parameters,
whereas the LaTeX \color command is a switch that changes the
color of everything that follows it.
The color extension changes the \color command to be compatible
with the LaTeX implementation, and also defines \colorbox,
\fcolorbox, and \definecolor, as in the LaTeX color package.
It defines the standard set of colors (Apricot, Aquamarine,
Bittersweet, and so on), and provides the RGB and grey-scale color
spaces in addition to named colors.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["color.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations,
and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it
explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands,
and have \color be compatible with LaTeX usage.
Enclose¶
The enclose extension gives you access to the MathML <menclose>
element for adding boxes, ovals, strikethroughs, and other marks over
your mathematics. It defines the following non-standard macro:
-
\enclose{notation}[attributes]{math} Where
notationis a comma-separated list of MathML<menclose>notations (e.g.,circle,left,updiagonalstrike,longdiv, etc.),attributesare MathML attribute values allowed on the<menclose>element (e.g.,mathcolor="red",mathbackground="yellow"), andmathis the mathematics to be enclosed. See the MathML 3 specification for more details on<menclose>.
For example
\enclose{circle}[mathcolor="red"]{x}
\enclose{circle}[mathcolor="red"]{\color{black}{x}}
\enclose{circle,box}{x}
\enclose{circle}{\enclose{box}{x}}
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["enclose.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
Extpfeil¶
The extpfeil extension adds more macros for producing extensible
arrows, including \xtwoheadrightarrow, \xtwoheadleftarrow,
\xmapsto, \xlongequal, \xtofrom, and a non-standard
\Newextarrow for creating your own extensible arrows. The latter
has the form
-
\Newextarrow{\cs}{lspace,rspace}{unicode-char} where
\csis the new control sequence name to be defined,lspaceandrspaceare integers representing the amount of space (in suitably small units) to use at the left and right of text that is placed above or below the arrow, andunicode-charis a number representing a unicode character position in either decimal or hexadecimal notation.
For example
\Newextarrow{\xrightharpoonup}{5,10}{0x21C0}
defines an extensible right harpoon with barb up. Note that MathJax knows how to stretch only a limited number of characters, so you may not actually get a stretchy character this way.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["extpfeil.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
HTML¶
The HTML extension gives you access to some HTML features like styles, classes, element ID’s and clickable links. It defines the following non-standard macros:
-
\href{url}{math} Makes
mathbe a link to the page given byurl.
-
\class{name}{math} Attaches the CSS class
nameto the output associated withmathwhen it is included in the HTML page. This allows your CSS to style the element.
-
\cssId{id}{math} Attaches an id attribute with value
idto the output associated withmathwhen it is included in the HTML page. This allows your CSS to style the element, or your javascript to locate it on the page.
-
\style{css}{math} Adds the give
cssdeclarations to the element associated withmath.
For example:
x \href{why-equal.html}{=} y^2 + 1
(x+1)^2 = \class{hidden}{(x+1)(x+1)}
(x+1)^2 = \cssId{step1}{\style{visibility:hidden}{(x+1)(x+1)}}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, but it will be loaded automatically when any of these macros is used, so you do not need to include it explicitly in your configuration.
mhchem¶
The mhchem extensions implements the \ce, \cf, and \cee
chemical equation macros of the LaTeX mhchem package. See the
mhchem CTAN page for more
information and a link to the documentation for mhchem.
For example
\ce{C6H5-CHO}
\ce{$A$ ->[\ce{+H2O}] $B$}
\ce{SO4^2- + Ba^2+ -> BaSO4 v}
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["mhchem.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
noErrors¶
The noErrors extension prevents TeX error messages from being displayed and shows the original TeX code instead. You can configure whether the dollar signs are shown or not for in-line math, and whether to put all the TeX on one line or use multiple lines (if the original text contained line breaks).
This extension is loaded by all the combined configuration files that
include the TeX input processor. To enable the noErrors extension in
your own configuration, or to modify its parameters, add something like the
following to your MathJax.Hub.Config() call:
TeX: {
extensions: ["noErrors.js"],
noErrors: {
inlineDelimiters: ["",""], // or ["$","$"] or ["\\(","\\)"]
multiLine: true, // false for TeX on all one line
style: {
"font-size": "90%",
"text-align": "left",
"color": "black",
"padding": "1px 3px",
"border": "1px solid"
// add any additional CSS styles that you want
// (be sure there is no extra comma at the end of the last item)
}
}
}
Display-style math is always shown in multi-line format, and without delimiters, as it will already be set off in its own centered paragraph, like standard display mathematics.
The default settings place the invalid TeX in a multi-line box with a black border. If you want it to look as though the TeX is just part of the paragraph, use
TeX: {
noErrors: {
inlineDelimiters: ["$","$"], // or ["",""] or ["\\(","\\)"]
multiLine: false,
style: {
"font-size": "normal",
"border": ""
}
}
}
You may also wish to set the font family or other CSS values here.
If you are using a combined configuration file that loads the TeX input processor, it will also load the noErrors extension automatically. If you want to disable the noErrors extension so that you receive the normal TeX error messages, use the following configuration:
TeX: { noErrors: { disabled: true } }
Any math that includes errors will be replaced by an error message indicating what went wrong.
noUndefined¶
The noUndefined extension causes undefined control sequences to be
shown as their macro names rather than generating error messages. So
$X_{\xxx}$ would display as an “X” with a subscript consisting of the
text \xxx in red.
This extension is loaded by all the combined configuration files that
include the TeX input processor. To enable the noUndefined extension
in your own configuration, or to modify its parameters, add something like
the following to your MathJax.Hub.Config() call:
TeX: {
extensions: ["noUndefined.js"],
noUndefined: {
attributes: {
mathcolor: "red",
mathbackground: "#FFEEEE",
mathsize: "90%"
}
}
}
The attributes setting specifies attributes to apply to the
mtext element that encodes the name of the undefined macro. The
default values set mathcolor to "red", but do not set any
other attributes. This example sets the background to a light pink,
and reduces the font size slightly.
If you are using a combined configuration file that loads the TeX input processor, it will also load the noUndefined extension automatically. If you want to disable the noUndefined extension so that you receive the normal TeX error messages for undefined macros, use the following configuration:
TeX: { noUndefined: { disabled: true } }
Any math that includes an undefined control sequence name will be replaced by an error message indicating what name was undefined.
Unicode support¶
The unicode extension implements a \unicode{} extension to TeX
that allows arbitrary unicode code points to be entered in your
mathematics. You can specify the height and depth of the character
(the width is determined by the browser), and the default font from
which to take the character.
Examples:
\unicode{65} % the character 'A'
\unicode{x41} % the character 'A'
\unicode[.55,0.05]{x22D6} % less-than with dot, with height .55em and depth 0.05em
\unicode[.55,0.05][Geramond]{x22D6} % same taken from Geramond font
\unicode[Garamond]{x22D6} % same, but with default height, depth of .8em,.2em
Once a size and font are provided for a given unicode point, they need
not be specified again in subsequent \unicode{} calls for that
character.
The result of \unicode{...} will have TeX class ORD (i.e., it
will act like a variable). Use \mathbin{...}, \mathrel{...},
etc., to specify a different class.
Note that a font list can be given in the \unicode{} macro, but
Internet Explorer has a buggy implementation of the font-family
CSS attribute where it only looks in the first font in the list that
is actually installed on the system, and if the required glyph is not
in that font, it does not look at later fonts, but goes directly to
the default font as set in the Internet-Options/Font panel. For
this reason, the default font list for the \unicode{} macro is
STIXGeneral, 'Arial Unicode MS', so if the user has STIX
fonts, the symbol will be taken from that (almost all the symbols are
in STIXGeneral), otherwise MathJax tries Arial Unicode MS.
The unicode extension is loaded automatically when you first use the
\unicode{} macro, so you do not need to add it to the extensions
array. You can configure the extension as follows:
TeX: {
unicode: {
fonts: "STIXGeneral, 'Arial Unicode MS'"
}
}
Autoload-all¶
The autoload-all extension predefines all the macros from the
extensions above so that they autoload the extensions when first
used. A number of macros already do this, e.g., \unicode, but
this extension defines the others to do the same. That way MathJax
will have access to all the macros that it knows about.
To use this extension in your own configurations, add it to the extensions array in the TeX block.
TeX: {
extensions: ["autoload-all.js"]
}
This extension is not included in any of the combined configurations, and will not be loaded automatically, so you must include it explicitly in your configuration if you wish to use these commands.
Note that autoload-all redefines \color to be the one from the
color extension (the LaTeX-compatible one rather than the
non-standard MathJax version). This is because \colorbox and
\fcolorbox autoload the color extension, which will cause
\color to be redefined, and so for consistency, \color is
redefined immediately.
If you wish to retain the original definition of \color, then use
the following
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
TeX: { extensions: ["autoload-all.js"] }
});
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX autoload-all Ready", function () {
var MACROS = MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.macros;
MACROS.color = "Color";
delete MACROS.colorbox;
delete MACROS.fcolorbox;
});
</script>
Supported LaTeX commands¶
This is a long list of the TeX macros supported by MathJax. If the macro is defined in an extension, the name of the extension follows the macro name. If the extension is in brackets, the extension will be loaded automatically when the macro or environment is first used.
More complete details about how to use these macros, with examples and explanations, is available at Carol Fisher’s TeX Commands Available in MathJax page.
Symbols¶
#
%
&
^
_
{
}
~
'
\ (backslash-space)
\!
\#
\$
\%
\&
\,
\:
\;
\>
\\
\_
\{
\|
\}
A¶
\above
\abovewithdelims
\acute
\aleph
\alpha
\amalg
\And
\angle
\approx
\approxeq AMSsymbols
\arccos
\arcsin
\arctan
\arg
\array
\Arrowvert
\arrowvert
\ast
\asymp
\atop
\atopwithdelims
B¶
\backepsilon AMSsymbols
\backprime AMSsymbols
\backsim AMSsymbols
\backsimeq AMSsymbols
\backslash
\backslash
\bar
\barwedge AMSsymbols
\Bbb
\Bbbk AMSsymbols
\bbox [bbox]
\bcancel cancel
\because AMSsymbols
\begin
\begingroup begingroup non-standard
\beta
\beth AMSsymbols
\between AMSsymbols
\bf
\Big
\big
\bigcap
\bigcirc
\bigcup
\Bigg
\bigg
\Biggl
\biggl
\Biggm
\biggm
\Biggr
\biggr
\Bigl
\bigl
\Bigm
\bigm
\bigodot
\bigoplus
\bigotimes
\Bigr
\bigr
\bigsqcup
\bigstar AMSsymbols
\bigtriangledown
\bigtriangleup
\biguplus
\bigvee
\bigwedge
\binom AMSmath
\blacklozenge AMSsymbols
\blacksquare AMSsymbols
\blacktriangle AMSsymbols
\blacktriangledown AMSsymbols
\blacktriangleleft AMSsymbols
\blacktriangleright AMSsymbols
\bmod
\boldsymbol [boldsymbol]
\bot
\bowtie
\Box AMSsymbols
\boxdot AMSsymbols
\boxed AMSmath
\boxminus AMSsymbols
\boxplus AMSsymbols
\boxtimes AMSsymbols
\brace
\bracevert
\brack
\breve
\buildrel
\bullet
\Bumpeq AMSsymbols
\bumpeq AMSsymbols
C¶
\cal
\cancel cancel
\cancelto cancel
\cap
\Cap AMSsymbols
\cases
\cdot
\cdotp
\cdots
\ce mhchem
\cee mhchem
\centerdot AMSsymbols
\cf mhchem
\cfrac AMSmath
\check
\checkmark AMSsymbols
\chi
\choose
\circ
\circeq AMSsymbols
\circlearrowleft AMSsymbols
\circlearrowright AMSsymbols
\circledast AMSsymbols
\circledcirc AMSsymbols
\circleddash AMSsymbols
\circledR AMSsymbols
\circledS AMSsymbols
\class [HTML] non-standard
\clubsuit
\colon
\color color
\colorbox color
\complement AMSsymbols
\cong
\coprod
\cos
\cosh
\cot
\coth
\cr
\csc
\cssId [HTML] non-standard
\cup
\Cup AMSsymbols
\curlyeqprec AMSsymbols
\curlyeqsucc AMSsymbols
\curlyvee AMSsymbols
\curlywedge AMSsymbols
\curvearrowleft AMSsymbols
\curvearrowright AMSsymbols
D¶
\dagger
\daleth AMSsymbols
\dashleftarrow AMSsymbols
\dashrightarrow AMSsymbols
\dashv
\dbinom AMSmath
\ddagger
\ddddot AMSmath
\dddot AMSmath
\ddot
\ddots
\DeclareMathOperator AMSmath
\definecolor color
\def [newcommand]
\deg
\Delta
\delta
\det
\dfrac AMSmath
\diagdown AMSsymbols
\diagup AMSsymbols
\diamond
\Diamond AMSsymbols
\diamondsuit
\digamma AMSsymbols
\dim
\displaylines
\displaystyle
\div
\divideontimes AMSsymbols
\dot
\doteq
\Doteq AMSsymbols
\doteqdot AMSsymbols
\dotplus AMSsymbols
\dots
\dotsb
\dotsc
\dotsi
\dotsm
\dotso
\doublebarwedge AMSsymbols
\doublecap AMSsymbols
\doublecup AMSsymbols
\Downarrow
\downarrow
\downdownarrows AMSsymbols
\downharpoonleft AMSsymbols
\downharpoonright AMSsymbols
E¶
\ell
\emptyset
\enclose enclose non-standard
\end
\endgroup begingroup non-standard
\enspace
\epsilon
\eqalign
\eqalignno
\eqcirc AMSsymbols
\eqref [AMSmath]
\eqsim AMSsymbols
\eqslantgtr AMSsymbols
\eqslantless AMSsymbols
\equiv
\eta
\eth AMSsymbols
\exists
\exp
F¶
\fallingdotseq AMSsymbols
\fbox
\fcolorbox color
\Finv AMSsymbols
\flat
\forall
\frac
\frac AMSmath
\frak
\frown
G¶
\Game AMSsymbols
\Gamma
\gamma
\gcd
\gdef begingroup
\ge
\genfrac AMSmath
\geq
\geqq AMSsymbols
\geqslant AMSsymbols
\gets
\gg
\ggg AMSsymbols
\gggtr AMSsymbols
\gimel AMSsymbols
\global begingroup
\gnapprox AMSsymbols
\gneq AMSsymbols
\gneqq AMSsymbols
\gnsim AMSsymbols
\grave
\gt
\gt
\gtrapprox AMSsymbols
\gtrdot AMSsymbols
\gtreqless AMSsymbols
\gtreqqless AMSsymbols
\gtrless AMSsymbols
\gtrsim AMSsymbols
\gvertneqq AMSsymbols
H¶
\hat
\hbar
\hbox
\hdashline
\heartsuit
\hline
\hom
\hookleftarrow
\hookrightarrow
\hphantom
\href [HTML]
\hskip
\hslash AMSsymbols
\hspace
\Huge
\huge
\idotsint AMSmath
I¶
\iff
\iiiint AMSmath
\iiint
\iint
\Im
\imath
\impliedby AMSsymbols
\implies AMSsymbols
\in
\inf
\infty
\injlim AMSmath
\int
\intercal AMSsymbols
\intop
\iota
\it
J¶
\jmath
\Join AMSsymbols
K¶
\kappa
\ker
\kern
L¶
\label [AMSmath]
\Lambda
\lambda
\land
\langle
\LARGE
\Large
\large
\LaTeX
\lbrace
\lbrack
\lceil
\ldotp
\ldots
\le
\leadsto AMSsymbols
\left
\Leftarrow
\leftarrow
\leftarrowtail AMSsymbols
\leftharpoondown
\leftharpoonup
\leftleftarrows AMSsymbols
\Leftrightarrow
\leftrightarrow
\leftrightarrows AMSsymbols
\leftrightharpoons AMSsymbols
\leftrightsquigarrow AMSsymbols
\leftroot
\leftthreetimes AMSsymbols
\leq
\leqalignno
\leqq AMSsymbols
\leqslant AMSsymbols
\lessapprox AMSsymbols
\lessdot AMSsymbols
\lesseqgtr AMSsymbols
\lesseqqgtr AMSsymbols
\lessgtr AMSsymbols
\lesssim AMSsymbols
\let [newcommand]
\lfloor
\lg
\lgroup
\lhd AMSsymbols
\lim
\liminf
\limits
\limsup
\ll
\llap
\llcorner AMSsymbols
\Lleftarrow AMSsymbols
\lll AMSsymbols
\llless AMSsymbols
\lmoustache
\ln
\lnapprox AMSsymbols
\lneq AMSsymbols
\lneqq AMSsymbols
\lnot
\lnsim AMSsymbols
\log
\Longleftarrow
\longleftarrow
\Longleftrightarrow
\longleftrightarrow
\longmapsto
\Longrightarrow
\longrightarrow
\looparrowleft AMSsymbols
\looparrowright AMSsymbols
\lor
\lower
\lozenge AMSsymbols
\lrcorner AMSsymbols
\Lsh AMSsymbols
\lt
\lt
\ltimes AMSsymbols
\lVert AMSmath
\lvert AMSmath
\lvertneqq AMSsymbols
M¶
\maltese AMSsymbols
\mapsto
\mathbb
\mathbf
\mathbin
\mathcal
\mathchoice [mathchoice]
\mathclose
\mathfrak
\mathinner
\mathit
\mathop
\mathopen
\mathord
\mathpunct
\mathrel
\mathring AMSmath
\mathrm
\mathscr
\mathsf
\mathstrut
\mathtip action non-standard
\mathtt
\matrix
\max
\mbox
\measuredangle AMSsymbols
\mho AMSsymbols
\mid
\middle
\min
\mit
\mkern
\mmlToken non-standard
\mod
\models
\moveleft
\moveright
\mp
\mskip
\mspace
\mu
\multimap AMSsymbols
N¶
\nabla
\natural
\ncong AMSsymbols
\ne
\nearrow
\neg
\negmedspace AMSmath
\negthickspace AMSmath
\negthinspace
\neq
\newcommand [newcommand]
\newenvironment [newcommand]
\Newextarrow extpfeil
\newline
\nexists AMSsymbols
\ngeq AMSsymbols
\ngeqq AMSsymbols
\ngeqslant AMSsymbols
\ngtr AMSsymbols
\ni
\nLeftarrow AMSsymbols
\nleftarrow AMSsymbols
\nLeftrightarrow AMSsymbols
\nleftrightarrow AMSsymbols
\nleq AMSsymbols
\nleqq AMSsymbols
\nleqslant AMSsymbols
\nless AMSsymbols
\nmid AMSsymbols
\nobreakspace AMSmath
\nolimits
\normalsize
\not
\notag [AMSmath]
\notin
\nparallel AMSsymbols
\nprec AMSsymbols
\npreceq AMSsymbols
\nRightarrow AMSsymbols
\nrightarrow AMSsymbols
\nshortmid AMSsymbols
\nshortparallel AMSsymbols
\nsim AMSsymbols
\nsubseteq AMSsymbols
\nsubseteqq AMSsymbols
\nsucc AMSsymbols
\nsucceq AMSsymbols
\nsupseteq AMSsymbols
\nsupseteqq AMSsymbols
\ntriangleleft AMSsymbols
\ntrianglelefteq AMSsymbols
\ntriangleright AMSsymbols
\ntrianglerighteq AMSsymbols
\nu
\nVDash AMSsymbols
\nVdash AMSsymbols
\nvDash AMSsymbols
\nvdash AMSsymbols
\nwarrow
O¶
\odot
\oint
\oldstyle
\Omega
\omega
\omicron
\ominus
\operatorname AMSmath
\oplus
\oslash
\otimes
\over
\overbrace
\overleftarrow
\overleftrightarrow
\overline
\overrightarrow
\overset
\overwithdelims
\owns
P¶
\parallel
\partial
\perp
\phantom
\Phi
\phi
\Pi
\pi
\pitchfork AMSsymbols
\pm
\pmatrix
\pmb
\pmod
\pod
\Pr
\prec
\precapprox AMSsymbols
\preccurlyeq AMSsymbols
\preceq
\precnapprox AMSsymbols
\precneqq AMSsymbols
\precnsim AMSsymbols
\precsim AMSsymbols
\prime
\prod
\projlim AMSmath
\propto
\Psi
\psi
Q¶
\qquad
\quad
R¶
\raise
\rangle
\rbrace
\rbrack
\rceil
\Re
\ref [AMSmath]
\renewcommand [newcommand]
\renewenvironment [newcommand]
\require non-standard
\restriction AMSsymbols
\rfloor
\rgroup
\rhd AMSsymbols
\rho
\right
\Rightarrow
\rightarrow
\rightarrowtail AMSsymbols
\rightharpoondown
\rightharpoonup
\rightleftarrows AMSsymbols
\rightleftharpoons
\rightleftharpoons AMSsymbols
\rightrightarrows AMSsymbols
\rightsquigarrow AMSsymbols
\rightthreetimes AMSsymbols
\risingdotseq AMSsymbols
\rlap
\rm
\rmoustache
\root
\Rrightarrow AMSsymbols
\Rsh AMSsymbols
\rtimes AMSsymbols
\Rule non-standard
\rVert AMSmath
\rvert AMSmath
S¶
\S
\scr
\scriptscriptstyle
\scriptsize
\scriptstyle
\searrow
\sec
\setminus
\sf
\sharp
\shortmid AMSsymbols
\shortparallel AMSsymbols
\shoveleft AMSmath
\shoveright AMSmath
\sideset AMSmath
\Sigma
\sigma
\sim
\simeq
\sin
\sinh
\skew
\small
\smallfrown AMSsymbols
\smallint
\smallsetminus AMSsymbols
\smallsmile AMSsymbols
\smash
\smile
\Space
\space
\spadesuit
\sphericalangle AMSsymbols
\sqcap
\sqcup
\sqrt
\sqsubset AMSsymbols
\sqsubseteq
\sqsupset AMSsymbols
\sqsupseteq
\square AMSsymbols
\stackrel
\star
\strut
\style [HTML] non-stanard
\subset
\Subset AMSsymbols
\subseteq
\subseteqq AMSsymbols
\subsetneq AMSsymbols
\subsetneqq AMSsymbols
\substack AMSmath
\succ
\succapprox AMSsymbols
\succcurlyeq AMSsymbols
\succeq
\succnapprox AMSsymbols
\succneqq AMSsymbols
\succnsim AMSsymbols
\succsim AMSsymbols
\sum
\sup
\supset
\Supset AMSsymbols
\supseteq
\supseteqq AMSsymbols
\supsetneq AMSsymbols
\supsetneqq AMSsymbols
\surd
\swarrow
T¶
\tag [AMSmath]
\tan
\tanh
\tau
\tbinom AMSmath
\TeX
\text
\textbf
\textit
\textrm
\textstyle
\texttip action non-standard
\tfrac AMSmath
\therefore AMSsymbols
\Theta
\theta
\thickapprox AMSsymbols
\thicksim AMSsymbols
\thinspace
\tilde
\times
\tiny
\Tiny non-standard
\to
\toggle action non-standard
\top
\triangle
\triangledown AMSsymbols
\triangleleft
\trianglelefteq AMSsymbols
\triangleq AMSsymbols
\triangleright
\trianglerighteq AMSsymbols
\tt
\twoheadleftarrow AMSsymbols
\twoheadrightarrow AMSsymbols
U¶
\ulcorner AMSsymbols
\underbrace
\underleftarrow
\underleftrightarrow
\underline
\underrightarrow
\underset
\unicode [unicode] non-standard
\unlhd AMSsymbols
\unrhd AMSsymbols
\Uparrow
\uparrow
\Updownarrow
\updownarrow
\upharpoonleft AMSsymbols
\upharpoonright AMSsymbols
\uplus
\uproot
\Upsilon
\upsilon
\upuparrows AMSsymbols
\urcorner AMSsymbols
V¶
\varDelta AMSsymbols
\varepsilon
\varGamma AMSsymbols
\varinjlim AMSmath
\varkappa AMSsymbols
\varLambda AMSsymbols
\varliminf AMSmath
\varlimsup AMSmath
\varnothing AMSsymbols
\varOmega AMSsymbols
\varphi
\varPhi AMSsymbols
\varpi
\varPi AMSsymbols
\varprojlim AMSmath
\varpropto AMSsymbols
\varPsi AMSsymbols
\varrho
\varsigma
\varSigma AMSsymbols
\varsubsetneq AMSsymbols
\varsubsetneqq AMSsymbols
\varsupsetneq AMSsymbols
\varsupsetneqq AMSsymbols
\vartheta
\varTheta AMSsymbols
\vartriangle AMSsymbols
\vartriangleleft AMSsymbols
\vartriangleright AMSsymbols
\varUpsilon AMSsymbols
\varXi AMSsymbols
\vcenter
\vdash
\Vdash AMSsymbols
\vDash AMSsymbols
\vdots
\vec
\vee
\veebar AMSsymbols
\verb [verb]
\Vert
\vert
\vphantom
\Vvdash AMSsymbols
W¶
\wedge
\widehat
\widetilde
\wp
\wr
X¶
\Xi
\xi
\xcancel cancel
\xleftarrow AMSmath
\xlongequal extpfeil
\xmapsto extpfeil
\xrightarrow AMSmath
\xtofrom extpfeil
\xtwoheadleftarrow extpfeil
\xtwoheadrightarrow extpfeil
Y¶
\yen AMSsymbols
Z¶
\zeta
Environments¶
LaTeX environments of the form \begin{XXX} ... \end{XXX} are
provided where XXX is one of the following:
align [AMSmath]
align* [AMSmath]
alignat [AMSmath]
alignat* [AMSmath]
aligned [AMSmath]
alignedat [AMSmath]
array
Bmatrix
bmatrix
cases
CD AMSmath
eqnarray
eqnarray*
equation
equation*
gather [AMSmath]
gather* [AMSmath]
gathered [AMSmath]
matrix
multline [AMSmath]
multline* [AMSmath]
pmatrix
smallmatrix AMSmath
split [AMSmath]
subarray AMSmath
Vmatrix
vmatrix
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax MathML Support¶
The support for MathML in MathJax consists of three parts: the
mml2jax preprocessor, the MathML input processor, and the NativeMML
output processor. The first of these looks for <math> tags within
your document and marks them for later processing by MathJax. The
second converts the MathML to the internal format used by MathJax, and
the third turns the internal format into MathML within the page so
that it can be displayed by the browser’s native MathML support.
Because of MathJax’s modular design, you do not need to use all three of these components. For example, you could use the tex2jax preprocessor and the TeX input processor, but the NativeMML output processor, so that your mathematics is entered in TeX format, but displayed as MathML. Or you could use the mml2jax preprocessor and MathML input processor with the HTML-CSS output processor to make MathML available in browsers that don’t have native MathML support. It is also possible to have MathJax select the output processor for you so that MathML is used in those browsers that support it well enough, while HTML-CSS is used for those that don’t. See the common configurations section for details and examples.
Of course it is also possible to use all three components together. It may seem strange to go through an internal format just to return to MathML in the end, but this is actually what makes it possible to view MathML within an HTML page (rather than an XHTML page), without the complications of handling special MIME-types for the document, or any of the other setup issues that make using native MathML difficult. MathJax handles the setup and properly marks the mathematics so that the browser will render it as MathML. In addition, MathJax provides its contextual menu for the MathML, which lets the user zoom the mathematics for easier reading, get and copy the source markup, and so on, so there is added value to using MathJax even with a pure MathML workflow.
MathML in HTML pages¶
For MathML that is handled via the preprocessor, you should not use
named MathML entities, but rather use numeric entities like
√ or unicode characters embedded in the page itself. The
reason is that entities are replaced by the browser before MathJax
runs, and some browsers report errors for unknown entities. For
browsers that are not MathML-aware, that will cause errors to be
displayed for the MathML entities. While that might not occur in the
browser you are using to compose your pages, it can happen with other
browsers, so you should avoid the named entities whenever possible.
If you must use named entities, you may need to declare them in the
DOCTYPE declaration by hand.
When you use MathML in an HTML document rather than an XHTML one (MathJax will work with both), you should not use the “self-closing” form for tags with no content, but should use separate open and close tags. That is, use
<mspace width="thinmathspace"></mspace>
rather than <mspace width="thinmathspace" />. This is because HTML
(prior to HTML5) does not have self-closing tags, and some browsers
will get the nesting of tags wrong if you attempt to use them. For
example, with <mspace width="1em" />, since there is no closing
tag, the rest of the mathematics will become the content of the
<mspace> tag; but since <mspace> should have no content, the
rest of the mathematics will not be displayed. This is a common error
that should be avoided. Modern browsers that support HTML5 should be
able to handle self-closing tags, but older browsers have problems
with them, so if you want your mathematics to be visible to the widest
audience, do not use the self-closing form in HTML documents.
Content MathML¶
New in version 2.2 is experimental support for Content MathML. This uses an XSL style sheet developed by David Carlisle to convert Content MathML to Presentation MathML, which is then processed by MathJax.
To use Content MathML in your documents, simply include
"content-mathml.js" in the extensions array of your MathML
configuration block. For example
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MathML: {
extensions: ["content-mathml.js"]
}
});
</script>
Note that this script tag must come before the script that loads
MathJax.js itself.
Supported MathML commands¶
MathJax supports the MathML3.0 presentation mathematics tags, with some limitations. The MathML support is still under active development, so some tags are not yet implemented, and some features are not fully developed, but are coming.
The deficiencies include:
- No support for the elementary math tags:
mstack,mlongdiv,msgroup,msrow,mscarries, andmscarry. - No support for alignment groups in tables.
- No support for right-to-left rendering.
- Not all attributes are supported for tables. E.g.,
columnspanandrowspanare not implemented yet.
See the results of the MathML3.0 test suite for details.
Semantics and Annotations¶
Starting with MathJax version 2.3, some popular annotation formats like TeX,
Maple, or Content MathML that are often included in the MathML source via the
semantics element are accessible from the "Show Math As" menu.
See the MathML Annotation Framework and
the The MathMenu extension documentation for details.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax AsciiMath Support¶
The support for AsciiMath in MathJax consists of two parts:
the asciimath2jax preprocessor, and the AsciiMath input processor.
The first of these looks for mathematics within your web page
(indicated by delimiters like `...`) and marks the mathematics for
later processing by MathJax. The AsciiMath input processor is what
converts the AsciiMath notation into MathJax’s internal format, where
one of MathJax’s output processors then displays it in the web page.
The AsciiMath input jax actually includes a copy of Peter Jipsen’s
ASCIIMathML.js file (see the AsciiMath home page for
details), and is included by permission of the author. This means
that the results of MathJax’s AsciiMath processing should be the same
as using the actual ASCIIMathML.js package (at least as far as the
MathML that it generates is concerned). Thanks go to David Lippman
for writing the initial version of the AsciiMath preprocessor and
input jax.
The asciimath2jax preprocessor can be configured to look for whatever markers you want to use for your math delimiters. See the asciimath2jax configuration options section for details on how to customize the action of asciimath2jax.
The AsciiMath input processor handles conversion of your mathematical notation into MathJax’s internal format (which is essentially MathML). The AsciiMath input processor has few configuration options (see the AsciiMath options section for details).
The AsciiMath input jax handles only the original ASCIIMathML notation (from ASCIIMathML v1.4.7), not the extened LaTeXMathML notation added in version 2.0 of ASCIIMathML, though the AsciiMath input jax does expose the tables that define the symbols that AsciiMath processes, and so it would be possible to extend them to include additional symbols. In general, it is probably better to use MathJax’s TeX input jax to handle LaTeX notation instead.
AsciiMath delimiters¶
By default, the asciimath2jax preprocessor defines the back-tick
(`) as the delimiters for mathematics in AsciiMath format. It
does not define $...$ as math delimiters. That is because
dollar signs appear too often in non-mathematical settings, which
could cause some text to be treated as mathematics unexpectedly. For
example, with single-dollar delimiters, “… the cost is $2.50 for the
first one, and $2.00 for each additional one …” would cause the
phrase “2.50 for the first one, and” to be treated as mathematics
since it falls between dollar signs. For this reason, if you want to
use single-dollars for AsciiMath notation, you must enable that
explicitly in your configuration:
MathJax.Hub.Config({
asciimath2jax: {
delimiters: [['$','$'], ['`','`']]
}
});
Note that the dollar signs are frequently used as a delimiter for mathematics in the TeX format, and you can not enable the dollar-sign delimiter for both. It is probably best to leave dollar signs for TeX notation.
See the config/default.js file, or the asiimath2jax
configuration options page, for additional
configuration parameters that you can specify for the asciimath2jax
preprocessor, which is the component of MathJax that identifies
AsciiMath notation within the page.
AsciiMath in HTML documents¶
The AsciiMath syntax is descibed in the ASCIIMathML syntax page.
Keep in mind that your mathematics is part of an HTML document, so you
need to be aware of the special characters used by HTML as part of its
markup. There cannot be HTML tags within the math delimiters (other
than <BR>) as AsciiMath-formatted math does not include HTML tags.
Also, since the mathematics is initially given as text on the page,
you need to be careful that your mathematics doesn’t look like HTML
tags to the browser (which parses the page before MathJax gets to see
it). In particular, that means that you have to be careful about
things like less-than and greater-than signs (< and >), and
ampersands (&), which have special meaning to the browsers. For
example,
... when `x<y` we have ...
will cause a problem, because the brower will think <y is the
beginning of a tag named y (even though there is no such tag in
HTML). When this happens, the browser will think the tag continues up
to the next > in the document (typically the end of the next
actual tag in the HTML file), and you may notice that you are missing
part of the text of the document. In the example above, the “we
have ...” will not be displayed because the browser thinks it is
part of the tag starting at <y. This is one indication you can
use to spot this problem; it is a common error and should be avoided.
Usually, it is sufficient to simply put spaces around these symbols to cause the browser to avoid them, so
... when `x < y` we have ...
should work. Alternatively, you can use the HTML entities <,
> and & to encode these characters so that the browser
will not interpret them, but MathJax will. E.g.,
... when `x < y` we have ...
Keep in mind that the browser interprets your text before MathJax does.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Output Formats¶
Currently, MathJax can render math in three ways:
- Using HTML-with-CSS to lay out the mathematics,
- Using SVG to lay out the mathematics, or
- Using a browser’s native MathML support.
These are implemented by the HTML-CSS, SVG and NativeMML output processors.
If you are using one of the combined configuration files, then this will
select one of these output processors for you. If the config file ends in
_HTML, then it is the HTML-CSS output processor, and if it ends in
_SVG then the SVG output processor will be used. If it ends in
_HTMLorMML, then the NativeMML output processor will be chosen if the
browser supports it well enough, otherwise HTML-CSS output will be used.
If you are performing your own in-line or file-based configuration,
you select which one you want to use by including either
"output/HTML-CSS", "output/SVG", or "output/NativeMML" in
the jax array of your MathJax configuration. For example
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"]
would specify TeX input and HTML-with-CSS output for the mathematics in your document.
The HTML-CSS output processor produces high-quality output in all major browsers, with results that are consistent across browsers and operating systems. This is MathJax’s primary output mode. Its major advantage is its quality and consistency; its drawback is that it is slower than the NativeMML mode at rendering the mathematics. Historically, the performance in Internet Explorer (and IE8 in particular) was quite poor, with the page getting slower and slower as more math is processed. MathJax version 2.0 includes a number of optimizations to improve the display performance in IE, and it is now more comparable to other browsers. The HTML-CSS output uses web-based fonts so that users don’t have to have math fonts installed on their computers, which introduces some printing issues in certain browsers.
The SVG output processor is new in MathJax version 2.0, and it uses Scalable Vector Graphics to render the mathematics on the page. SVG is supported in all the major browsers and most mobile devices; note, however, that Internet Explorer prior to IE9 does not support SVG, and IE9 only does in “IE9 standards mode”, not its emulation modes for earlier versions. The SVG output mode is high quality and slightly faster than HTML-CSS, and it does not suffer from some of the font-related issues that HTML-CSS does, so prints well in all browsers. This format also works well in some ebook readers (e.g., iBooks). The disadvantages of this mode are the following: first, Internet Explorer only supports SVG in IE9 and later versions (and then only in IE9 standards mode or above), and some versions of the Android Internet browser don’t have SVG enabled. Second, it does not take advantage of STIX fonts, and so only has access to the characters in the web-based fonts, and third, its variable-width tables become fixed size once they are typeset, and don’t rescale if the window size changes (for example). Since equation numbers are handled through variable-width tables, that means equation numbers may not stay at the edge of the window if it is resized. For these reasons it is probably best not to force the use of SVG output unless you have some control over the browsers that are used to view your documents.
The NativeMML output processor uses the browser’s internal MathML support (if any) to render the mathematics. Currently, Firefox has native support for MathML, and IE has the MathPlayer plugin for rendering MathML. Opera has some built-in support for MathML that works well with simple equations, but fails with more complex formulas, so we don’t recommend using the NativeMML output processor with Opera. Safari has some support for MathML since version 5.1, but the quality is not as high as either Firefox’s implementation or IE with MathPlayer. Chrome, Konqueror, and most other browsers don’t support MathML natively, but this may change in the future, since MathML is part of the HTML5 specification.
The advantage of the NativeMML output Processor is its speed, since native MathML support is much faster than using complicated HTML and CSS to typeset mathematics, as the HTML-CSS output processor does. The disadvantage is that you are dependent on the browser’s MathML implementation for your rendering, and these vary in quality of output and completeness of implementation. MathJax relies on features that are not available in some renderers (for example, Firefox’s MathML support does not implement the features needed for labeled equations). The results using the NativeMML output processor may have spacing or other rendering problems that are outside of MathJax’s control.
Automatic Selection of the Output Processor¶
Since not all browsers support MathML natively, it would be unwise to
choose the NativeMML output processor unless you are sure of your
audience’s browser capabilities. MathJax can help with that, however,
since a number of its combined configuration files will select
NativeMML output when the browser supports it well enough, and
HTML-CSS output otherwise. These are the configuration files that end
in _HTMLorMML.
If you are doing your own configuration, there is a special configuration
file that you can include that will choose between NativeMML and HTML-CSS
depending on the browser in use. To invoke it, add "MMLorHTML.js" to
your configuration’s config array, and do not include an output
processor in your jax array; MathJax will fill that in for you based on
the abilities of your user’s browser.
config: ["MMLorHTML.js"],
jax: ["input/TeX"]
By default, MathJax will choose HTML-CSS in all browsers except for one case: Internet Explorer when the MathPlayer plugin is present. In the past, MathJax selected NativeMML output for Firefox as well, but we have found that there are too many rendering issues with Firefox’s native MathML implementation, and so MathJax now selects HTML-CSS output for Firefox by default as well. Users can still use the Mathjax contextual menu to select the NativeMML renderer if they wish to choose greater speed at the expense of some quality.
You can customize which choice MathJax makes on a browser-by-browser
basis or a global basis. See the config/default.js file or the
Configuring MMLorHTML section for further
details. As an example, this configuration tells MathJax to use
native MathML support rather than HTML-CSS output for Firefox:
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MMLorHTML: { prefer: { Firefox: "MML" } }
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>
With this configuration, MathML output will be used for both Firefox and IE with the MathPlayer plugin. Note, however, that a user can employ the MathJax contextual menu to select the other renderer if he or she wishes.
MathJax produces MathML that models the underlying mathematics as best it can, rather than using complicated hacks to improve output for a particular MathML implementation. When you make the choice to use the NativeMML output processor, you are making a trade-off: gaining speed at the expense of quality and reliability, a decision that should not be taken lightly.
Automatic Line Breaking¶
The HTML-CSS and SVG output processors implement (most of) the MathML3 automatic line-breaking specification. (The NativeMML output processor relies on the browser’s native MathML support to handle line breaking when it is used.) Since line-breaking takes extra processing and so can slow down the mathematical output, it is off by default, but you can enable it by adding
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
"HTML-CSS": { linebreaks: { automatic: true } },
SVG: { linebreaks: { automatic: true } }
});
</script>
to your page just before the <script> tag that loads
MathJax.js itself.
Note that line breaking only applies to displayed equations, not in-line equations (unless the in-line euqation is itself longer than a line), and that the line-breaks are only computed once when the equation is initially typeset, and do not change if the user changes the window size, or if the container changes size for some other reason.
You can control what width is used to determine where the line breaks
shoud occur using the container parameter of the linebreaks
block. By default it is the width of the containing element, but you
can make it a fixed width, or make it a percentage of the container.
See the HTML-CSS configuration or
SVG configuration pages for more details.
The linbe-breaking algorithm uses the nesting depth, the type of
operator, the size of spaces, and other factors to decide on the
breakpoints, but it does not know the meaning of the mathematics, and
may not choose the optimal breakpoints. We will continue to work on
the algorithm as we gain information from its actual use in the field.
If you are using MathML as your input format, you can use the
linebreak="goodbreak" and linebreak="badbreak" attributes on
<mo> elements to help MathJax pick the best breakpoints for your
mathematics.
HTML-CSS with IE¶
The performance of MathJax in Internet Explorer 8 and 9 has been substantially improved in version 2.0. The HTML-CSS output processing was redesigned to avoid the page reflows that were the main source of the speed problem in I8 and IE9. For test pages having between 20 and 50 typeset expressions, we see an 80% reduction in output processing time for IE8, a 50% reduction for IE9, and between 15% and 25% reduction for most other browsers over the v1.1a times. Since the processing time in v1.1a grows non-linearly in IE, you should see even larger savings for pages with more equations when using v2.0.
In the past, we recommended forcing IE8 and IE9 into IE7-emulation mode in order to get better performance. That is no longer necessary. Indeed, the fastest modes in IE8 and IE9 now are their IE8 standards and IE9 standards modes, so it is best to force the highest mode possible. That can be accomplished by adding
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
at the top of the <head> section of your HTML documents. Note
that this line must come at the beginning of the <head>, before
any stylesheets, scripts, or other content are loaded.
HTML-CSS Extensions¶
The HTML-CSS output jax uses elements with width set to 100% when it typesets displayed equations. If there are floating elements on the left or right, this can mean that displayed mathematics isn’t properly centered, and can cause equation numbers to overlap the floating content. To avoid this, you can specify the handle-floats extension in the extensions array of your HTML-CSS configuration block.
"HTML-CSS": {
extensions: ["handle-floats.js"]
}
This will use CSS that puts the displayed equations into elements that work like tabel cells, and won’t overlap the floaring content. Because this is somewhat of a misuse of CSS, it is not used by default, but it has proved successful in most situations, so you may consider using it in pages that include material that floats to the left or right of text containing displayed mathematics, especially when equation numbers or tags are used.
See the HTML-CSS configuration options for other options of the HTML-CSS output jax.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Font Support¶
MathJax currently supports the following fonts:
- MathJax TeX (default)
- STIX General
- Asana Math
- Neo Euler
- Gyre Pagella
- Gyre Termes
- Latin Modern
MathJax contains customized webfont versions of these fonts. In particular, these customized versions are split over several files to minimize the page load.
Since browsers do not provide APIs to access font metrics, MathJax has to ship with the necessary font data; this font data is generated during development and cannot be generated on the fly. In addition, most fonts do not cover the relevant characters for mathematical layout. Finally, some fonts (e.g. Cambria Math) store important glyphs outside the Unicode range, making them inaccessible to JavaScript. These are the main reasons why MathJax is unable to support arbitrary fonts at this time.
Font configuration¶
Page authors can configure their font preference for each output format separately, see HTML-CSS output processor and SVG output processor. MathJax will download the necessary webfonts and fontdata dynamically and only those files necessary for the content.
For the HTML-CSS output, MathJax will download webfonts in the appropriate webfont format (depending on the client browser); for the SVG output, MathJax will download path data that corresponds to the fonts.
The HTML-CSS output processor will prefer
locally installed copies of the webfonts to minimize page load. Page authors
can set a preference via the availableFonts and
preferredFont options and they can configure the webfont via the
webFont option. Please note that except for STIX General, the usual
distributions of the supported fonts do not work for technical reasons. You can
download the webfonts from the MathJax repository.
The SVG output processor will not use fonts directly but
derived SVG path data to draw paths corresponding to characters. The page author
can configure the font via the font option.
There is currently no method for switching fonts after MathJax has loaded. Similarly, page users cannot change the font configuration at this time except by installing their preferred fonts locally.
Character fallbacks¶
No font contains a suitable glyph for every character specified in the
Unicode standard. MathJax enhances Unicode coverage of its default TeX fonts,
e.g., combining two double integrals U+222C when a quadrupel integral
U+2A0C is used. However, this cannot create every character specified
in Unicode.
When MathJax encounters a character the configured font does not support, it will ask the browser to provide the glyph from a system font. Since MathJax will not have the necessary data on the glyph’s bounding box, MathJax will estimate these metrics; this can negatively affect layout.
Adding new fonts¶
As mentioned, MathJax needs pre-generated font data to support a fonts. This font data can be generated using the MathJax development tools.
Font mixing¶
Mixing multiple fonts is currently not supported. We hope to add support in the future.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Localization¶
As of version 2.2, MathJax’s user interface (including its contextual menu, its help and about dialog boxes, and its warning messages) can all be localized to appear in languages other than English. For the available language options, see the TranslateWiki.net interface.
The language used by MathJax can be selected using the MathJax contextual menu. It includes a Language submenu that lists the available languages; selecting one will change the MathJax user interface to use that language.
Page authors can select a default language for MathJax so that, for
example, a page that is written in French will have MathJax’s user
interface also in French. To do this, add &locale=XX after the
configuration file in the <script> tag that loads the MathJax.js
file, where XX is the two-letter code for the language. For
example:
<script src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML&locale=fr"></script>
will load MathJax using the French language. Users can still override this setting using the Language submenu of the MathJax contextual menu. This submenu can be disabled, however, using the MathMenu configuration options.
If you want to help in the translation process, please visit the TranslateWiki.net interface. The page localization.html is a convenient way to check the different translations.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Safe-mode¶
MathML includes the ability to include hyperlinks within your
mathematics, and such links could be made to javascript: URL’s.
For example, the expression
<math>
<mtext href="javascript:alert('Hello!')">Click Me</mtext>
</math>
would display the words “Click Me” that when clicked would generate an alert message in the browser. This is a powerful feature that provides authors the ability to tie actions to mathematical expressions.
Similarly, MathJax provides an HTML extension for the TeX language that allows you to include hyperlinks in your TeX formulas:
$E \href{javascript:alert("Einstein says so!")}{=} mc^2$
Here the equal sign will be a link that pops up the message about Einstein.
Both MathML and the HTML extension for TeX allow you to add CSS styles, classes, and id’s to your math elements as well. These features can be used to produce interactive mathematical expressions to help your exposition, improve student learning, and so on.
If you are using MathJax in a community setting, however, like a question-and-answer forum, a wiki, a blog with user comments, or other situations where your readers can enter mathematics, then your readers would be able to use such powerful tools to corrupt the page, or fool other readers into giving away sensitive information, or interrupt their reading experience in other ways. In such environments, you may want to limit these abilities so that your readers are protected form these kinds of malicious actions.
(Authors who are writing pages that don’t allow users to enter data on the site do not have to worry about such problems, as the only mathematical content will be their own. It is only when users can contribute to the page that you have to be careful.)
MathJax provides a Safe extension to help you limit your
contributors’ powers. There are two ways to load it. The easiest is
to add ,Safe after the configuration file when you are loading
MathJax.js:
<script src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML,Safe"></script>
This causes MathJax to load the TeX-AMS_HTML configuration file,
and then the Safe configuration, which adds the Safe extension to
your extensions array so that it will be loaded with the other
extensions.
Alternatively, if you are using in-line configuration, you could just
include "Safe.js" in your extensions array directly:
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","Safe.js"]
});
</script>
<script src="https://example.com/MathJax.js"></script>
The Safe extension has a number of configuration options that let you fine-tune what is allowed and what is not. See the Safe extension options for details.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax Community¶
If you are an active MathJax user, you may wish to become involved in the wider community of MathJax users. The MathJax project maintains forums where users can ask questions about how to use MathJax, make suggestions about future features for MathJax, and present their own solutions to problems that they have faced. There is also a bug-tracking system where you can report errors that you have found with MathJax in your environment.
Forums¶
If you need help using MathJax or you have solutions you want to share, please use the MathJax Users Google Group. We try hard to answer questions quickly, and users are welcome to help with that as well. Also, users can post code snippets showing how they have used MathJax, so it may be a good place to find the examples you are looking for.
If you want to discuss MathJax development, please use the MathJax Dev Google Group. We made this group to discuss anything beyond what an end-user might be interested in, so if you have any suggestions or questions about MathJax performance, technology, or design, feel free to submit it to the group.
The community is only as good as the users who participate, so if you have something to offer, please take time to make a post on one of our groups.
Issue tracking¶
Found a bug or want to suggest an improvement? Post it to our issue tracker. We monitor the tracker closely, and work hard to respond to problems quickly.
Before you create a new issue, however, please search the issues to see if it has already been reported. You could also be using an outdated version of MathJax, so be sure to upgrade your copy to verify that the problem persists in the latest version.
Documentation¶
The source for this documentation can be found on github. You can file bug reports on the documentation’s bug tracker and actively contribut to the public documentation wiki.
“Powered by MathJax”¶
If you are using MathJax and want to show your support, please consider using our “Powered by MathJax” badge <mathjax-badges>.
MathJax Configuration Options¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Configuration Objects¶
The various components of MathJax, including its input and output
processors, its preprocessors, its extensions, and the MathJax core,
all can be configured through the config/default.js file, or via a
MathJax.Hub.Config() call (indeed, if you look closely, you
will see that config/default.js is itself one big call to
MathJax.Hub.Config()). Anything that is in
config/default.js can be included in-line to configure MathJax.
The structure that you pass to MathJax.Hub.Config() is a
JavaScript object that includes name:value pairs giving the names of
parameters and their values, with pairs separated by commas. Be
careful not to include a comma after the last value, however, as some
browsers (namely Internet Explorer) will fail to process the
configuration if you do.
The MathJax components, like the TeX input processor, have their own sections in the configuration object labeled by the component name, and using an object as its value. That object is itself a configuration object made up of name:value pairs that give the configuration options for the component.
For example,
MathJax.Hub.Config({
showProcessingMessages: false,
jax: ["input/TeX", "output/HTML-CSS"],
TeX: {
TagSide: "left",
Macros: {
RR: '{\\bf R}',
bold: ['{\\bf #1}',1]
}
}
});
is a configuration that includes two settings for the MathJax Hub (one
for showProcessingMessages and one for the jax array), and a
configuration object for the TeX input processor. The latter includes
a setting for the TeX input processor’s TagSide option (to set tags
on the left rather than the right) and a setting for Macros, which
defines new TeX macros (in this case, two macros, one called \RR
that produces a bold “R”, and one called \bold that puts is
argument in bold face).
The config/default.js file is another example that shows nearly
all the configuration options for all of MathJax’s components.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The Core Configuration Options¶
The options below control the MathJax Hub, and so determine the code behavior of MathJax. They are given with their default values.
-
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"] A comma-separated list of input and output jax to initialize at startup. Their main code is loaded only when they are actually used, so it is not inefficient to include jax that may not actually be used on the page. These are found in the
MathJax/jaxdirectory.
-
extensions: [] A comma-separated list of extensions to load at startup. The default directory is
MathJax/extensions. Thetex2jaxandmml2jaxpreprocessors can be listed here, as well as aFontWarningsextension that you can use to inform your user that mathematics fonts are available that they can download to improve their experience of your site.
-
config: [] A comma-separated list of configuration files to load when MathJax starts up, e.g., to define local macros, etc., and there is a sample config file named
config/local/local.js. The default directory is the MathJax/config directory. TheMMLorHTML.jsconfiguration is one such configuration file, and there are a number of other pre-defined configurations (see Using a configuration file for more details).
-
styleSheets: [] A comma-separated list of CSS stylesheet files to be loaded when MathJax starts up. The default directory is the MathJax/config directory.
-
styles: {} CSS styles to be defined dynamically at startup time. These are in the form selector:rules (see CSS Style Objects for complete details).
-
preJax: null and postJax: null Patterns to remove from before and after math script tags. If you are not using one of the preprocessors, you need to insert something extra into your HTML file in order to avoid a bug in Internet Explorer. IE removes spaces from the DOM that it thinks are redundant, and since a
<script>tag usually doesn’t add content to the page, if there is a space before and after a MathJax<script>tag, IE will remove the first space. When MathJax inserts the typeset mathematics, this means there will be no space before it and the preceding text. In order to avoid this, you should include some “guard characters” before or after the math SCRIPT tag; define the patterns you want to use below. Note that these are used as part of a regular expression, so you will need to quote special characters. Furthermore, since they are javascript strings, you must quote javascript special characters as well. So to obtain a backslash, you must use\\(doubled for javascript). For example,"\\["represents the pattern\[in the regular expression, or[in the text of the web page. That means that if you want an actual backslash in your guard characters, you need to use"\\\\"in order to get\\in the regular expression, and\in the actual text. If bothpreJaxandpostJaxare defined, both must be present in order to be removed.See also the
preRemoveClasscomments below.Examples:
preJax: "\\\\\\\\\"makes a double backslash thepreJaxtextpreJax: "\\[\\[", postJax: "\\]\\]"makes it so jax scripts must be enclosed in double brackets.
-
preRemoveClass: "MathJax_Preview" This is the CSS class name for math previews that will be removed preceding a MathJax SCRIPT tag. If the tag just before the MathJax
<script>tag is of this class, its contents are removed when MathJax processes the<script>tag. This allows you to include a math preview in a form that will be displayed prior to MathJax performing its typesetting. It also avoids the Internet Explorer space-removal bug, and can be used in place ofpreJaxandpostJaxif that is more convenient.For example
<span class="MathJax_Preview">[math]</span><script type="math/tex">...</script>
would display “[math]” in place of the math until MathJax is able to typeset it.
See also the
preJaxandpostJaxcomments above.
-
showProcessingMessages: true This value controls whether the Processing Math: nn% messages are displayed in the lower left-hand corner. Set to
falseto prevent those messages (though file loading and other messages will still be shown).
-
messageStyle: "normal" This value controls the verbosity of the messages in the lower left-hand corner. Set it to
"none"to eliminate all messages, or set it to"simple"to show “Loading…” and “Processing…” rather than showing the full file name or the percentage of the mathematics processed.
-
displayAlign: "center" and displayIndent: "0em" These two parameters control the alignment and shifting of displayed equations. The first can be
"left","center", or"right", and determines the alignment of displayed equations. When the alignment is not"center", the second determines an indentation from the left or right side for the displayed equations.
-
delayStartupUntil: "none" Normally MathJax will perform its startup commands (loading of configuration, styles, jax, and so on) as soon as it can. If you expect to be doing additional configuration on the page, however, you may want to have it wait until the page’s onload handler is called. If so, set this to
"onload". You can also set this to"configured", in which case, MathJax will delay its startup until you explicitly callMathJax.Hub.Configured(). See Configuring MathJax after it is loaded for more details.
-
skipStartupTypeset: false Normally MathJax will typeset the mathematics on the page as soon as the page is loaded. If you want to delay that process, in which case you will need to call
MathJax.Hub.Typeset()yourself by hand, set this value totrue.
-
elements: [] This is a list of DOM element ID’s that are the ones to process for mathematics when any of the Hub typesetting calls (
Typeset(),Process(),Update(), etc.) are called with no element specified, and during MathJax’s initial typesetting run when it starts up. This lets you restrict the processing to particular containers rather than scanning the entire document for mathematics. If none are supplied, the complete document is processed.
-
positionToHash: true Since typesetting usually changes the vertical dimensions of the page, if the URL contains an anchor position, then after the page is typeset, you may no longer be positioned at the correct position on the page. MathJax can reposition to that location after it completes its initial typesetting of the page. This value controls whether MathJax will reposition the browser to the
#hashlocation from the page URL after typesetting for the page.
-
showMathMenu: true -
showMathMenuMSIE: true These control whether to attach the MathJax contextual menu to the expressions typeset by MathJax. Since the code for handling MathPlayer in Internet Explorer is somewhat delicate, it is controlled separately via
showMathMenuMSIE, but the latter is now deprecated in favor of the MathJax contextual menu settings for MathPlayer (see below).If
showMathMenuistrue, then right-clicking (on Windows or Linux) or control-clicking (on Mac OS X) will produce a MathJax menu that allows you to get the source of the mathematics in various formats, change the size of the mathematics relative to the surrounding text, get information about MathJax, and configure other MathJax settings.Set this to
falseto disable the menu. Whentrue, theMathMenuconfiguration block determines the operation of the menu. See the MathMenu options for more details.These values used to be listed in the separate output jax, but have been moved to this more central location since they are shared by all output jax. MathJax will still honor their values from their original positions, if they are set there.
-
menuSettings: { ... } This block contains settings for the mathematics contextual menu that act as the defaults for the user’s settings in that menu. The possible values are:
-
zoom: "None" This indicates when typeset mathematics should be zoomed. It can be set to
"None","Hover","Click", or"Double-Click"to set the zoom trigger.
-
CTRL: false, ALT: false, CMD: false, Shift: false These values indicate which keys must be pressed in order for math zoom to be triggered. For example, if
CTRLis set totrueandzoomis"Click", then math will be zoomed only when the user control-clicks on mathematics (i.e., clicks while holding down the CTRL key). If more than one istrue, then all the indicated keys must be pressed for the zoom to occur.
-
zscale: "200%" This is the zoom scaling factor, and it can be set to any of the values available in the Zoom Factor menu of the Settings submenu of the contextual menu.
-
context: "MathJax" This controls what contextual menu will be presented when a right click (on a PC) or CTRL-click (on the Mac) occurs over a typeset equation. When set to
"MathJax", the MathJax contextual menu will appear; when set to"Browser", the browser’s contextual menu will be used. For example, in Internet Explorer with the MathPlayer plugin, if this is set to"Browser", you will get the MathPlayer contextual menu rather than the MathJax menu.
-
texHints: true This controls whether the “Show Math as” menu item includes special class names that help MathJax to typeset the mathematics that was produced by the TeX input jax. If these are included, then you can take the output from “Show Math as” and put it into a page that uses MathJax’s MathML input jax and expect to get the same results as the original TeX. (Without this, there may be some spacing differences.)
-
semantics: false This controls whether the “Show Math as ⇒ MathML Code” menu item includes the TeX or AsciiMath input as annotations. If these are included, then you can take the output from “Show Math as ⇒ MathML” and put it into a page that uses MathJax’s MathML input jax and allow users to access the original input via “Show Math as ⇒ Annotation”.
There are also settings for
format,renderer,font,mpContext, andmpMouse, but these are maintained by MathJax and should not be set by the page author.-
-
errorSettings: { ... } This block contains settings that control how MathJax responds to unexpected errors while processing mathematical equations. Rather than simply crash, MathJax can report an error and go on. The options you can set include:
-
message: ["[Math Processing Error]"] This is an HTML snippet that will be inserted at the location of the mathematics for any formula that causes MathJax to produce an internal error (i.e., an error in the MathJax code itself). See the description of HTML snippets for details on how to represent HTML code in this way.
-
style: {color:"#CC0000", "font-style":"italic"} This is the CSS style description to use for the error messages produced by internal MathJax errors. See the section on CSS style objects for details on how these are specified in JavaScript.
-
-
v1.0-compatible: true This controls whether MathJax issues the warning about not having an explicit configuration in the event that the jax array is empty after configuration is complete. If you really intend that array to be empty, set this flag to
false. Note that setting this to false does not cause a default configuration file to be loaded.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The tex2jax Preprocessor¶
The options below control the operation of the tex2jax preprocessor
that is run when you include "tex2jax.js" in the extensions array
of your configuration. They are listed with their default values. To
set any of these options, include a tex2jax section in your
MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)'] ]
}
});
would set the inlineMath delimiters for the tex2jax
preprocessor.
-
inlineMath: [['\(','\)']] Array of pairs of strings that are to be used as in-line math delimiters. The first in each pair is the initial delimiter and the second is the terminal delimiter. You can have as many pairs as you want. For example,
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)'] ]
would cause tex2jax to look for
$...$and\(...\)as delimiters for inline mathematics. (Note that the single dollar signs are not enabled by default because they are used too frequently in normal text, so if you want to use them for math delimiters, you must specify them explicitly.)Note that the delimiters can’t look like HTML tags (i.e., can’t include the less-than sign), as these would be turned into tags by the browser before MathJax has the chance to run. You can only include text, not tags, as your math delimiters.
-
displayMath: [ ['$$','$$'], ['\[','\]'] ] Array of pairs of strings that are to be used as delimiters for displayed equations. The first in each pair is the initial delimiter and the second is the terminal delimiter. You can have as many pairs as you want.
Note that the delimiters can’t look like HTML tags (i.e., can’t include the less-than sign), as these would be turned into tags by the browser before MathJax has the chance to run. You can only include text, not tags, as your math delimiters.
-
balanceBraces: true, This value determines whether tex2jax requires braces to be balanced within math delimiters (which allows for nested dollar signs). Set to
falseto get pre-v2.0 compatibility. Whentrue,$y = x^2 \hbox{ when $x > 2$}$.
will be properly handled as a single expression. When
false, it would be interpreted as two searpate expressions, each with improperly balanced braces.
-
processEscapes: false When set to
true, you may use\$to represent a literal dollar sign, rather than using it as a math delimiter. Whenfalse,\$will not be altered, and the dollar sign may be considered part of a math delimiter. Typically this is set totrueif you enable the$ ... $in-line delimiters, so you can type\$and tex2jax will convert it to a regular dollar sign in the rendered document.
-
processRefs: true When set to
true, MathJax will process\ref{...}outside of math mode.
-
processEnvironments: true When
true, tex2jax looks not only for the in-line and display math delimiters, but also for LaTeX environments (\begin{something}...\end{something}) and marks them for processing by MathJax. Whenfalse, LaTeX environments will not be processed outside of math mode.
-
preview: "TeX" This controls whether tex2jax inserts
MathJax_Previewspans to make a preview available, and what preview to use, when it locates in-line or display mathematics in the page. The default is"TeX", which means use the TeX code as the preview (which will be visible until it is processed by MathJax). Set to"none"to prevent previews from being inserted (the math will simply disappear until it is typeset). Set to an array containing the description of an HTML snippet in order to use the same preview for all equations on the page.Examples:
preview: ["[math]"], // insert the text "[math]" as the preview
preview: [["img",{src: "/images/mypic.jpg"}]], // insert an image as the preview
See the description of HTML snippets for details on how to represent HTML code in this way.
-
skipTags: ["script","noscript","style","textarea","pre","code"] This array lists the names of the tags whose contents should not be processed by tex2jax (other than to look for ignore/process classes as listed below). You can add to (or remove from) this list to prevent MathJax from processing mathematics in specific contexts.
-
ignoreClass: "tex2jax_ignore" This is the class name used to mark elements whose contents should not be processed by tex2jax (other than to look for the
processClasspattern below). Note that this is a regular expression, and so you need to be sure to quote any regexp special characters. The pattern is inserted into one that requires your pattern to match a complete word, so settingignoreClass: "class2"would cause it to match an element withclass="class1 class2 class3"but notclass="myclass2". Note that you can assign several classes by separating them by the vertical line character (|). For instance, withignoreClass: "class1|class2"any element assigned a class of eitherclass1orclass2will be skipped.
-
processClass: "tex2jax_process" This is the class name used to mark elements whose contents should be processed by tex2jax. This is used to restart processing within tags that have been marked as ignored via the
ignoreClassor to cause a tag that appears in theskipTagslist to be processed rather than skipped. Note that this is a regular expression, and so you need to be sure to quote any regexp special characters. The pattern is inserted into one that requires your pattern to match a complete word, so settingprocessClass: "class2"would cause it to match an element withclass="class1 class2 class3"but notclass="myclass2". Note that you can assign several classes by separating them by the vertical line character (|). For instance, withprocessClass: "class1|class2"any element assigned a class of eitherclass1orclass2will have its contents processed.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The mml2jax Preprocessor¶
The options below control the operation of the mml2jax preprocessor
that is run when you include "mml2jax.js" in the extensions array
of your configuration. They are listed with their default values. To
set any of these options, include a mml2jax section in your
MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
mml2jax: {
preview: "mathml"
}
});
would set the preview parameter to "mathml".
-
preview: "mathml" This controls whether mml2jax inserts
MathJax_Previewspans to make a preview available, and what preview to use, when it locates mathematics on the page. Possible values are:"mathml","alttext", ,"altimg","none", or an HTML snippet.The default is
"mathml", in which case MathJax keeps the content of the<math>tag as the preview (until it is processed by MathJax). Set to"alttext", to use the<math>tag’salttextattribute as the preview, if the tag has one. Set to"altimg"to use an image described by thealtimg*attributes of the<math>element. Set to"none"to prevent the previews from being inserted (the math will simply disappear until it is typeset). Set to an array containing the description of an HTML snippet in order to use the same preview for all equations on the page (e.g., you could have it say"[math]"or load an image).Examples:
preview: ["[math]"], // insert the text "[math]" as the preview
preview: [["img",{src: "/images/mypic.jpg"}]], // insert an image as the preview
See the description of HTML snippets for details on how to represent HTML code in this way.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The asciimath2jax Preprocessor¶
The options below control the operation of the asciimath2jax preprocessor
that is run when you include "asciimath2jax.js" in the extensions array
of your configuration. They are listed with their default values. To
set any of these options, include a asciimath2jax section in your
MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
asciimath2jax: {
delimiters: [['`','`'], ['$','$']]
}
});
would set the ASCIIMath delimiters for the asciimath2jax preprocessor to include dollar signs as well as back-ticks.
-
delimiters: [['`','`']] Array of pairs of strings that are to be used as math delimiters. The first in each pair is the initial delimiter and the second is the terminal delimiter. You can have as many pairs as you want. For example,
delimiters: [ ['$','$'], ['`','`'] ]
would cause asciimath2jax to look for
$...$and`...`as delimiters for inline mathematics. (Note that the single dollar signs are not enabled by default because they are used too frequently in normal text, so if you want to use them for math delimiters, you must specify them explicitly.)Note that the delimiters can’t look like HTML tags (i.e., can’t include the less-than sign), as these would be turned into tags by the browser before MathJax has the chance to run. You can only include text, not tags, as your math delimiters.
-
preview: "AsciiMath" This controls whether asciimath2jax inserts
MathJax_Previewspans to make a preview available, and what preview to use, when it locates in-line or display mathematics in the page. The default is"AsciiMath", which means use the ASCIIMath code as the preview (which will be visible until it is processed by MathJax). Set to"none"to prevent previews from being inserted (the math will simply disappear until it is typeset). Set to an array containing the description of an HTML snippet in order to use the same preview for all equations on the page.Examples:
preview: ["[math]"], // insert the text "[math]" as the preview
preview: [["img",{src: "/images/mypic.jpg"}]], // insert an image as the preview
See the description of HTML snippets for details on how to represent HTML code in this way.
-
skipTags: ["script","noscript","style","textarea","pre","code"] This array lists the names of the tags whose contents should not be processed by asciimath2jax (other than to look for ignore/process classes as listed below). You can add to (or remove from) this list to prevent MathJax from processing mathematics in specific contexts.
-
ignoreClass: "asciimath2jax_ignore" This is the class name used to mark elements whose contents should not be processed by asciimath2jax (other than to look for the
processClasspattern below). Note that this is a regular expression, and so you need to be sure to quote any regexp special characters. The pattern is inserted into one that requires your pattern to match a complete word, so settingignoreClass: "class2"would cause it to match an element withclass="class1 class2 class3"but notclass="myclass2". Note that you can assign several classes by separating them by the vertical line character (|). For instance, withignoreClass: "class1|class2"any element assigned a class of eitherclass1orclass2will be skipped.
-
processClass: "asciimath2jax_process" This is the class name used to mark elements whose contents should be processed by asciimath2jax. This is used to restart processing within tags that have been marked as ignored via the
ignoreClassor to cause a tag that appears in theskipTagslist to be processed rather than skipped. Note that this is a regular expression, and so you need to be sure to quote any regexp special characters. The pattern is inserted into one that requires your pattern to match a complete word, so settingprocessClass: "class2"would cause it to match an element withclass="class1 class2 class3"but notclass="myclass2". Note that you can assign several classes by separating them by the vertical line character (|). For instance, withprocessClass: "class1|class2"any element assigned a class of eitherclass1orclass2will have its contents processed.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The jsMath2jax Preprocessor¶
The options below control the operation of the jsMath2jax
preprocessor that is run when you include "jsMath2jax.js" in the
extensions array of your configuration. They are listed with their
default values. To set any of these options, include a jsMath2jax
section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jsMath2jax: {
preview: "none"
}
});
would set the preview parameter to "none".
-
preview: "TeX" This controls whether jsMath2jax inserts
MathJax_Previewspans to make a preview available, and what preview to use, when it locates in-line or display mathematics in the page. The default is"TeX", which means use the TeX code as the preview (which will be visible until it is processed by MathJax). Set to"none"to prevent previews from being inserted (the math will simply disappear until it is typeset). Set to an array containing the description of an HTML snippet in order to use the same preview for all equations on the page.Examples:
preview: ["[math]"], // insert the text "[math]" as the preview
preview: [["img",{src: "/images/mypic.jpg"}]], // insert an image as the preview
See the description of HTML snippets for details on how to represent HTML code in this way.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The TeX input processor¶
The options below control the operation of the TeX input processor
that is run when you include "input/TeX" in the jax array of
your configuration or load a combined configuration file that includes
the TeX input jax. They are listed with their default values. To
set any of these options, include a TeX section in your
MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
TeX: {
Macros: {
RR: '{\\bf R}',
bold: ['{\\bf #1}', 1]
}
}
});
would set the Macros configuration option to cause two new macros
to be defined within the TeX input processor.
-
TagSide: "right" This specifies the side on which
\tag{}macros will place the tags. Set it to"left"to place the tags on the left-hand side.
-
TagIndent: ".8em" This is the amount of indentation (from the right or left) for the tags produced by the
\tag{}macro.
-
MultLineWidth: "85%" The width to use for the multline environment that is part of the
AMSmathextension. This width gives room for tags at either side of the equation, but if you are displaying mathematics in a small area or a thin column of text, you might need to change the value to leave sufficient margin for tags.
-
equationNumbers: {} This object controls the automatic equation numbering and the equation referencing. It contains the following values:
-
autoNumber: "none" This controls whether equations are numbered and how. By default it is set to
"none"to be compatible with earlier versions of MathJax where auto-numbering was not performed (so pages will not change their appearance). You can change this to"AMS"for equations numbered as the AMSmath package would do, or"all"to get an equation number for every displayed equation.
-
formatNumber: function (n) {return n} A function that tells MathJax what tag to use for equation number
n. This could be used to have the equations labeled by a sequence of symbols rather than numbers, or to use section and subsection numbers instead.
-
formatTag: function (n) {return '('+n+')'} A function that tells MathJax how to format an equation number for displaying as a tag for an equation. This is what appears in the margin of a tagged or numbered equation.
-
formatID: function {return 'mjx-eqn-'+String(n).replace(/[:'"<>&]/g,"")} A function that rells MathJax what ID to use as an anchor for the equation (so that it can be used in URL references).
-
formatURL: function (id) {return '#'+escape(id)} A function that takes an equation ID and returns the URL to link to it.
-
useLabelIds: true This controls whether element ID’s use the
\labelname or the equation number. Whentrue, use the label, whenfalse, use the equation number.
See the MathJax examples page for some examples of equation numbering.
-
-
Macros: {} This lists macros to define before the TeX input processor begins. These are name:value pairs where the name gives the name of the TeX macro to be defined, and value gives the replacement text for the macro. The value can be an array of the form [value,n], where value is the replacement text and n is the number of parameters for the macro. Note that since the value is a javascript string, backslashes in the replacement text must be doubled to prevent them from acting as javascript escape characters.
For example,
Macros: { RR: '{\\bf R}', bold: ['{\\bf #1}', 1] }
would ask the TeX processor to define two new macros:
\RR, which produces a bold-face “R”, and\bold{...}, which takes one parameter and sets it in the bold-face font.
-
MAXMACROS: 10000 Because a definition of the form
\def\x{\x} \xwould cause MathJax to loop infinitely, the MAXMACROS constant will limit the number of macro substitutions allowed in any expression processed by MathJax.
-
MAXBUFFER: 5*1024 Because a definition of the form
\def\x{\x aaa} \xwould loop infinitely, and at the same time stack up lots of a’s in MathJax’s equation buffer, the MAXBUFFER constant is used to limit the size of the string being processed by MathJax. It is set to 5KB, which should be sufficient for any reasonable equation.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathML input processor¶
The options below control the operation of the MathML input processor
that is run when you include "input/MathML" in the jax array of
your configuration or load a combined configuration file that includes
the MathML input jax. They are listed with their default values. To
set any of these options, include a MathML section in your
MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MathML: {
useMathMLspacing: true
}
});
would set the useMathMLspacing option so that the MathML rules for
spacing would be used (rather than TeX spacing rules).
-
useMathMLspacing: false Specifies whether to use TeX spacing or MathML spacing when the HTML-CSS output jax is used.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The AsciiMath input processor¶
The options below control the operation of the AsciiMath input
processor that is run when you include "input/AsciiMath" in the
jax array of your configuration or load a combined configuration
file that includes the AsciiMath input jax. They are listed with
their default values. To set any of these options, include a
AsciiMath section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For
example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
AsciiMath: {
fixphi: true,
useMathMLspacing: true,
displaystyle: false,
decimalsign: "."
}
});
would set the displaystyle configuration option so that the limits
for operators like summation symbols will appear next to them rather
than above and below.
-
fixphi: true Determines whether MathJax will switch the Unicode values for
phiandvarphii. If set totrueMathJax will use the TeX mapping, otherwise the Unicode mapping.
-
useMathMLspacing: true Determines whether MathJax will use MathML spacing. Set to
falseto get TeX-like spacing.
-
displaystyle: true Determines whether operators like summation symbols will have their limits above and below the operators (true) or to their right (false). The former is how they would appear in displayed equations that appear on their own lines, while the latter is better suited to in-line equations so that they don’t interfere with the line spacing so much.
-
decimalsign: "." This is the character to be used for decimal points in numbers. if you change this to
",", then you need to be careful about entering points or intervals. E.g., use(1, 2)rather than(1,2)in that case.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The HTML-CSS output processor¶
The options below control the operation of the HTML-CSS output
processor that is run when you include "output/HTML-CSS" in the
jax array of your configuration or load a combined configuration
file that includes the HTML-CSS output jax. They are listed with
their default values. To set any of these options, include a
"HTML-CSS" section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call.
Note that, because of the dash, you need to enclose the name in
quotes. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
"HTML-CSS": {
preferredFont: "STIX"
}
});
would set the preferredFont option to the STIX fonts.
-
scale: 100 The scaling factor (as a percentage) of math with respect to the surrounding text. The HTML-CSS output processor tries to match the ex-size of the mathematics with that of the text where it is placed, but you may want to adjust the results using this scaling factor. The user can also adjust this value using the contextual menu item associated with the typeset mathematics.
-
minScaleAdjust: 50 This gives a minimum scale (as a percent) for the scaling used by MathJax to match the equation to the surrounding text. This will prevent MathJax from making the mathematics too small.
-
availableFonts: ["STIX","TeX"] This is a list of the fonts to look for on a user’s computer in preference to using MathJax’s web-based fonts. These must correspond to directories available in the
jax/output/HTML-CSS/fontsdirectory, where MathJax stores data about the characters available in the fonts. Set this to["TeX"], for example, to prevent the use of the STIX fonts, or set it to an empty list, [], if you want to force MathJax to use web-based or image fonts.
-
preferredFont: "TeX" Which font to prefer out of the
availableFontslist, when more than one is available on the user’s computer. Set it tonullif you want MathJax to use web-based or image fonts.
-
webFont: "TeX" This is the web-based font to use when none of the fonts listed above are available on the user’s computer. The possible values are
TeX,STIX-Web,Asana-Math,Neo-Euler,Gyre-Pagella,Gyre-TermesandLatin-Modern. Note that not all mathematical characters are available in all fonts (e.g., Neo-Euler does not include italic characters), so some mathematics may work better in some fonts than in others. TheSTIX-Webfont is the most complete.These fonts are stored in the
fonts/HTML-CSSfolder in the MathJax directory. Set this tonullto disable web fonts.
-
imageFont: "TeX" This is the font to use for image fallback mode (when none of the fonts listed above are available and the browser doesn’t support web-fonts via the
@font-faceCSS directive). Note that currently only the TeX font is available as an image font (they are stored in thefonts/HTML-CSSdirectory).Set this to
nullif you want to prevent the use of image fonts (e.g., you have deleted or not installed the image fonts on your server). In this case, only browsers that support web-based fonts will be able to view your pages without having the fonts installed on the client computer. The browsers that support web-based fonts include: IE6 and later, Chrome, Safari3.1 and above, Firefox3.5 and later, and Opera10 and later. Note that Firefox3.0 is not on this list.
-
undefinedFamily: "STIXGeneral, 'Arial Unicode MS', serif" This is the font-family CSS value used for characters that are not in the selected font (e.g., for web-based fonts, this is where to look for characters not included in the MathJax web fonts). IE will stop looking after the first font that exists on the system (even if it doesn’t contain the needed character), so order these carefully.
-
mtextFontInherit: false This setting controls whether
<mtext>elements will be typeset using the math fonts or the font of the surrounding text. Whenfalse, the font formathvariant="normal"will be used; whentrue, the font will be inherited from the surrounding paragraph.
-
EqnChunk: 50 -
EqnChunkFactor: 1.5 -
EqnChunkDelay: 100 These values control how “chunky” the display of mathematical expressions will be; that is, how often the equations will be updated as they are processed.
EqnChunkis the number of equations that will be typeset before they appear on screen. Larger values make for less visual flicker as the equations are drawn, but also mean longer delays before the reader sees anything.EqChunkFactoris the factor by which theEqnChunkwill grow after each chunk is displayed.EqChunkDelayis the time (in milliseconds) to delay between chunks (to allow the browser to respond to other user interaction).Set
EqnChunkto 1,EqnChunkFactorto 1, andEqnChunkDelayto 10 to get the behavior from MathJax v1.1 and below.
-
matchFontHeight: true This option indicates whether MathJax should try to adjust the x-height of equations to match the x-height of the surrounding text. See the MatchWebFonts options for finer control, especially if you are using Web fonts.
-
linebreaks: {} This is an object that configures automatic linebreaking in the HTML-CSS output. In order to be backward compatible with earlier versions of MathJax, only explicit line breaks are performed by default, so you must enable line breaks if you want automatic ones. The object contains the following values:
-
automatic: false This controls the automatic breaking of expressions: when
false, onlylinebreak="newline"is processed; whentrue, line breaks are inserted automatically in long expressions.
-
width: "container" This controls how wide the lines of mathematics can be.
Use an explicit width like
"30em"for a fixed width. Use"container"to compute the size from the containing element. Use"nn% container"for a portion of the container. Use"nn%"for a portion of the window size.The container-based widths may be slower, and may not produce the expected results if the layout width changes due to the removal of previews or inclusion of mathematics during typesetting.
-
-
styles: {} This is a list of CSS declarations for styling the HTML-CSS output. See the definitions in
jax/output/HTML-CSS/config.jsfor some examples of what are defined by default. See CSS Style Objects for details on how to specify CSS style in a JavaScript object.
-
showMathMenu: true This value has been moved to the core configuration block, since it applies to all output jax, but it will still be honored (for now) if it is set here. See the Core configuration options for more details.
-
tooltip: { ... } This sets the configuration options for
<maction>elements withactiontype="tooltip". (See also the#MathJax_Tooltipstyle setting injax/output/HTML-CSS/config.js, which can be overridden using thestylesoption above.)The
tooltipsection can contain the following options:-
delayPost: 600 The delay (in milliseconds) before the tooltip is posted after the mouse is moved over the
mactionelement.
-
delayClear: 600 The delay (in milliseconds) before the tooltop is cleared after the mouse moves out of the
mactionelement.
-
offsetX: 10 -
offsetY: 5 These are the offset from the mouse position (in pixels) where the tooltip will be placed.
-
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The NativeMML output processor¶
The options below control the operation of the NativeMML output
processor that is run when you include "output/NativeMML" in the
jax array of your configuration or load a combined configuration
file taht includes the NativeMML output jax. They are listed with
their default values. To set any of these options, include a
NativeMML section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For
example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
NativeMML: {
scale: 105
}
});
would set the scale option to 105 percent.
-
scale: 100 The scaling factor (as a percentage) of math with respect to the surrounding text. The NativeMML output processor tries to match the ex-size of the mathematics with that of the text where it is placed, but you may want to adjust the results using this scaling factor. The user can also adjust this value using the contextual menu item associated with the typeset mathematics.
-
minScaleAdjust: 50 This gives a minimum scale (as a percent) for the scaling used by MathJax to match the equation to the surrounding text. This will prevent MathJax from making the mathematics too small.
-
matchFontHeight: true This option indicates whether MathJax should try to adjust the x-height of equations to match the x-height of the surrounding text. See the MatchWebFonts options for finer control, especially if you are using Web fonts.
-
showMathMath: true -
showMathMenuMSIE: true These values have been moved to the core configuration block, since it applies to all output jax, but they will still be honored (for now) if it is set here. See the Core configuration options for more details.
-
styles: {} This is a list of CSS declarations for styling the NativeMML output. See the definitions in
jax/output/NativeMML/config.jsfor some examples of what are defined by default. See CSS Style Objects for details on how to specify CSS style in a JavaScript object.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The SVG output processor¶
The options below control the operation of the SVG output
processor that is run when you include "output/SVG" in the
jax array of your configuration or load a combined configuration
file that includes the SVG output jax. They are listed with their default
values. To set any of these options, include an SVG section
in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
SVG: {
scale: 120
}
});
would set the scale option to 120%.
-
scale: 100 The scaling factor (as a percentage) of math with respect to the surrounding text. The SVG output processor tries to match the ex-size of the mathematics with that of the text where it is placed, but you may want to adjust the results using this scaling factor. The user can also adjust this value using the contextual menu item associated with the typeset mathematics.
-
minScaleAdjust: 50 This gives a minimum scale (as a percent) for the scaling used by MathJax to match the equation to the surrounding text. This will prevent MathJax from making the mathematics too small.
-
font: "TeX" This is the font to use for rendering the mathematics. The possible values are
TeX,STIX-Web,Asana-Math,Neo-Euler,Gyre-Pagella,Gyre-TermesandLatin-Modern. Note that not all mathematical characters are available in all fonts (e.g., Neo-Euler does not include italic characters), so some mathematics may work better in some fonts than in others. TheSTIX-Webfont is the most complete.
-
blacker: 10 This is the stroke width to use for all character paths (1em = 1000 units). This is a cheap way of getting slightly lighter or darker characters, but remember that not all displays will act the same, so a value that is good for you may not be good for everyone.
-
undefinedFamily: "STIXGeneral, 'Arial Unicode MS', serif" This is the font-family CSS value used for characters that are not in the selected font (e.g., this is where to look for characters not included in the MathJax TeX fonts). IE will stop looking after the first font that exists on the system (even if it doesn’t contain the needed character), so order these carefully.
-
mtextFontInherit: false This setting controls whether
<mtext>elements will be typeset using the math fonts or the font of the surrounding text. Whenfalse, the font formathvariant="normal"will be used; whentrue, the font will be inherited from the surrounding paragraph.
-
addMMLclasses: false This controls whether the MathML structure is retained and CSS classes are added to mark the original MathML elements (as in the output from the HTML-CSS output jax). By default, the SVG output jax removes unneeded nesting in order to produce a more efficient markup, but if you want to use CSS to style the elements as if they were MathML, you might need to set this to true.
-
EqnChunk: 50 -
EqnChunkFactor: 1.5 -
EqnChunkDelay: 100 These values control how “chunky” the display of mathematical expressions will be; that is, how often the equations will be updated as they are processed.
EqnChunkis the number of equations that will be typeset before they appear on screen. Larger values make for less visual flicker as the equations are drawn, but also mean longer delays before the reader sees anything.EqChunkFactoris the factor by which theEqnChunkwill grow after each chunk is displayed.EqChunkDelayis the time (in milliseconds) to delay between chunks (to allow the browser to respond to other user interaction).Set
EqnChunkto 1,EqnChunkFactorto 1, andEqnChunkDelayto 10 to get the behavior from MathJax v1.1 and below.
-
matchFontHeight: true This option indicates whether MathJax should try to adjust the x-height of equations to match the x-height of the surrounding text. See the MatchWebFonts options for finer control, especially if you are using Web fonts.
-
linebreaks: {} This is an object that configures automatic linebreaking in the SVG output. In order to be backward compatible with earlier versions of MathJax, only explicit line breaks are performed by default, so you must enable line breaks if you want automatic ones. The object contains the following values:
-
automatic: false This controls the automatic breaking of expressions: when
false, onlylinebreak="newline"is processed; whentrue, line breaks are inserted automatically in long expressions.
-
width: "container" This controls how wide the lines of mathematics can be.
Use an explicit width like
"30em"for a fixed width. Use"container"to compute the size from the containing element. Use"nn% container"for a portion of the container. Use"nn%"for a portion of the window size.The container-based widths may be slower, and may not produce the expected results if the layout width changes due to the removal of previews or inclusion of mathematics during typesetting.
-
-
styles: {} This is a list of CSS declarations for styling the SVG output. See the definitions in
jax/output/SVG/config.jsfor some examples of what are defined by default. See CSS Style Objects for details on how to specify CSS style in a JavaScript object.
-
tooltip: { ... } This sets the configuration options for
<maction>elements withactiontype="tooltip". (See also the#MathJax_Tooltipstyle setting injax/output/SVG/config.js, which can be overridden using thestylesoption above.)The
tooltipsection can contain the following options:-
delayPost: 600 The delay (in milliseconds) before the tooltip is posted after the mouse is moved over the
mactionelement.
-
delayClear: 600 The delay (in milliseconds) before the tooltop is cleared after the mouse moves out of the
mactionelement.
-
offsetX: 10 -
offsetY: 5 These are the offset from the mouse position (in pixels) where the tooltip will be placed.
-
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MMLorHTML configuration options¶
The options below control the operation of the MMLorHTML configuration
file that is run when you include "MMLorHTML.js" in the config
array of your configuration, or when you use one of the combined
configuration files that ends with _HTMLorMML. They are listed
with their default values. To set any of these options, include a
MMLorHTML section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For
example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MMLorHTML: {
prefer: {
Opera: "MML"
}
}
});
would set the prefer option so that the Opera browser would prefer
MathML to HTML-CSS output (while leaving the settings for other
browsers unchanged).
Note that if you use the MMLorHTML.js configuration file, you should
not specify an output processor in the jax array of your
configuration; MMLorHTML will fill that in for you.
-
prefer: { -
MSIE: "MML", -
Firefox: "HTML", -
Safari: "HTML", -
Chrome: "HTML", -
Opera: "HTML", -
other: "HTML" -
} This lets you set the preferred renderer on a browser-by-browser basis. You set the browser to either
"MML"or"HTML"depending on whether you want to use the NativeMML or HTML-CSS output processor. Note that although Opera and Safari do process some MathML natively, their support is not sufficient to handle the more complicated output generated by MathJax, so their settings are"HTML"by default. Although Firefox does support a large subset of MathJax, it does not implement all the features needed by MathJax, and so it is also set to"HTML"by default (this is new in v2.0).Note that users can still use the MathJax contextual menu to select a different renderer after the default one has been chosen by
MMLorHTML.js.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathZoom extension¶
The options below control the operation of the Math-Zoom feature that
allows users to see an enlarged version of the mathematics when they
click or hover over typeset mathematics. They are listed with their
default values. To set any of these options, include a MathZoom
section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MathZoom: {
styles: {
"#MathJax_Zoom": {
"background-color": "#0000F0"
}
}
}
});
would set the background color of the Zoom box to a very light blue.
Mathematics is zoomed when the user “triggers” the zoom by an action,
either clicking on the mathematics, double-clicking on it, or holding
the mouse still over it (i.e., “hovering”). Which trigger is used is
set by the user via the math contextual menu (or by the author using
the menuSettings configuration section of the core configuration
options <configure-hub>).
-
delay: 500 This value is now stored as the
hoverparameter in the MathEvents configuration options, and will have no effect if given here.
-
styles: {} This is a list of CSS declarations for styling the zoomed mathematics. See the definitions in
extensions/MathZoom.jsfor details of what are defined by default. See CSS Style Objects for details on how to specify CSS style in a JavaScript object.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathEvents extension¶
The options below control the operation of the MathEvents component that
allows handles mouse and menu events attached to mathematics that is
typeset by MathJax. They are listed with their
default values. To set any of these options, include a MathEvents
section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MathEvents: {
hover: 400
}
});
would set the required delay for hovering over a math element to 400 milliseconds.
-
hover: 500 This value is the time (in milliseconds) that a user must hold the mouse still over a math element before it is considered to be hovering over the math.
-
styles: {} This is a list of CSS declarations for styling the zoomed mathematics. See the definitions in
extensions/MathEvents.jsfor details of what are defined by default. See CSS Style Objects for details on how to specify CSS style in a JavaScript object.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The FontWarnings extension¶
The options below control the operation of the FontWarnings
extension that is run when you include "FontWarnings.js" in the
extensions array of your configuration. They are listed with their
default values. To set any of these options, include a
FontWarnings section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call.
For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
FontWarnings: {
fadeoutTime: 2*1000
}
});
would set the fadeoutTime option to 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds).
-
messageStyle: { ... } This sets the CSS styles to be used for the font warning message window. See the
extensions/FontWarnings.jsfile for details of what are set by default. See the CSS style objects for details about how to specify CSS styles via javascript objects.
-
Message: { ... } This block contains HTML snippets to be used for the various messages that the FontWarning extension can produce. There are three messages that you can redefine to suit your needs:
-
webFont: [ ... ] The message used for when MathJax uses web-based fonts (rather than local fonts installed on the user’s system).
-
imageFonts: [ ... ] The message used for when MathJax must use image fonts rather than local or web-based fonts (for those browsers that don’t handle the
@font-faceCSS directive).
-
noFonts: [ ... ] The message used when MathJax is unable to find any font to use (i.e., neither local nor web-based nor image-based fonts are available).
Any message that is set to
nullrather than an HTML snippet array will not be presented to the user, so you can set, for example, thewebFontmessage tonullin order to have theimageFontsandnoFontsmessages, but no message if MathJax uses web-based fonts.See the description of HTML snippets for details about how to describe the messages using HTML snippets. Note that in addition to the usual rules for defining such snippets, the FontWarnings snippets can include references to pre-defined snippets (that represent elements common to all three messages). These are defined below in the
HTMLblock, and are referenced using["name"]within the snippet, where name is the name of one of the snippets defined in theHTMLconfiguration block. For exampleMessage: { noFonts: [ ["closeBox"], "MathJax is unable to locate a font to use to display ", "its mathematics, and image fonts are not available, so it ", "is falling back on generic unicode characters in hopes that ", "your browser will be able to display them. Some characters ", "may not show up properly, or possibly not at all.", ["fonts"], ["webfonts"] ] }
refers to the
closeBox,fontsandwebfontssnippets declared in theHTMLsection.-
-
HTML: { ... } This object defines HTML snippets that are common to more than one message in the
Messagesection above. They can be included in other HTML snippets by by using["name"]in an HTML snippet, where name refers to the name of the snippet in theHTMLblock. The pre-defined snippets are:-
closeBox The HTML for the close box in the FontWarning message.
-
webfonts The HTML for a paragraph suggesting an upgrade to a more modern browser that supports web fonts.
-
fonts HTML that includes links to the MathJax and STIX font download pages.
-
STIXfonts HTML that gives the download link for the STIX fonts only. (Used in place of fonts when the HTML-CSS option for availableFonts only includes the STIX fonts.)
-
TeXfonts HTML that gives the download link for the MathJax TeX fonts only. (Used in place of fonts when the HTML-CSS option for availableFonts only includes the TeX fonts.)
You can add your own pre-defined HTML snippets to this object, or override the ones that are there with your own text.
-
-
removeAfter: 12*1000 This is the amount of time to show the FontWarning message, in milliseconds. The default is 12 seconds. Setting this value to zero means that the message will not fade out (the user must close it manually).
-
fadeoutSteps: 10 This is the number of steps to take while fading out the FontWarning message. More steps make for a smoother fade-out. Set to zero to cause the message to be removed without fading.
-
fadeoutTime: 1.5*1000 This is the time used to perform the fade-out, in milliseconds. The default is 1.5 seconds.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The Safe extension¶
The options below control the operation of the Safe extension that
is run when you include "Safe.js" in the extensions array of
your configuration, or include Safe in the config= options
when you load MathJax.js. They are listed with their default
values. To set any of these options, include a Safe
section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call. For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
Safe: {
allow: {
URLs: "safe",
classes: "safe",
cssIDs: "safe",
styles: "safe",
fontsize: "all",
require: "safe"
}
}
});
would set the fontsize option to "all", and the others to
"safe" (these are described below).
The Safe extension affects both the TeX input and MathML input jax.
-
allow: { ... } This block contains the flags that control what the Safe extension will allow, and what it will block. The flags can be set to
"all","none", or"safe". When set to"all", no filtering is done for these values (this gives MathJax’s default behavior). When set to"none", these values are always filtered out. When set to"safe", then only some values are allowed, as described below.-
URLs: "safe" When set to
"safe"only URL’s with protocols that are listed in thesafeProtocolsproperty (see below) are allowed as targets ofhrefattributes or the\hrefmacro. By default, these arehttp://,https://, andfile://URL’s.
-
classes: "safe" When set to
"safe", only class names that begin withMJX-and contain only letters, numbers, or the characters-,_, or.are allowed.
-
cssIDs: "safe" When set to
"safe", only ID’s that begin withMJX-and contain only letters, numbers, or the characters-,_, or.are allowed.
-
styles: "safe" When set to
"safe", only styles taken from a predefined set of styles are allowed to be given. These are listed in thesafeStylesproperty (see below).
-
require: "safe" When set to
"safe", only the extensions listed in thesafeRequireproperty (see below) are allowed to be loaded by the\require{}macro.
-
fontsize: "all" When set to
"safe", MathJax will try to limit the font size to sizes between those given by thesizeMinandsizeMaxproperties. These are .7 and 1.44 by default, which means sizes between\scriptsizeand\largeare allowed. This also filters MathMLfontsize,mathsize, andscriptminsizeattributes, but here,"safe"acts as"none", since they are given in sizes with units, and the actual size of the units is not determined at input time (it is part of the output processing). In addition, thescriptlevelattribute is restricted to non-negative values (so scripts can’t be made larger), and thescriptsizemultiplieris restricted to being no larger than 1, and no less than .6.
-
-
sizeMin: .7 This is the minimum font size (in em’s) that the TeX input jax will allow when
fontsizeis set to"safe"above. The default is the size of\scriptsize. Values less than this are set to this value.
-
sizeMax: 1.44 This is the maximum font size (in em’s) that the TeX input jax will allow when
fontsizeis set to"safe"above. The default is the size of\large. Values larger than this are set to this value.
-
safeProtocols: {...} This is an object that lists the protocols that can be used in
hrefattributes and the\hrefmacro whenURLsis set to"safe"above. The default issafeProtocols: { http: true, https: true, file: true, javascript: false }
Note that if a protocol doesn’t appear in the list, it is assumed to be
false, so technically,javascriptneed not have been listed, but it is given to make it explicit that it should not be allowed.
-
safeStyles: {...} This is an object that lists the style properties that can be used in MathML
styleattributes and the\styleand\bboxmacros whenstylesis set to"safe"in theallowedproperty above. The default issafeStyles: { color: true, backgroundColor: true, border: true, cursor: true, margin: true, padding: true, textShadow: true, fontFamily: true, fontSize: true, fontStyle: true, fontWeight: true, opacity: true, outline: true }
Any style property that doesn’t appear on this list is not allowed to be entered and will be removed (silently) from the style definition.
-
safeRequire: {...} This is an object that lists the TeX extensions that can be loaded via the
\require{}macro whenrequireis set to"safe"in theallowedproperty above. The default issafeRequire: { action: true, amscd: true, amsmath: true, amssymbols: true, autobold: false, "autoload-all": false, bbox: true, begingroup: true, boldsymbol: true, cancel: true, color: true, enclose: true, extpfeil: true, HTML: true, mathchoice: true, mhchem: true, newcommand: true, noErrors: false, noUndefined: false, unicode: true, verb: true }
These configuration options give you a lot of control over what actions MathJax is allowed to take. It is also possible override the individual filtering functions in order to customize the filtering even further, should that be needed. See the code for the details of the function names and their definitions.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The Match Web Fonts extension¶
The options below control the operation of the MatchWebFonts
extension that is run when you include "MatchWebFonts.js" in the
extensions array of your configuration. They are listed with their
default values. To set any of these options, include a
MatchWebFonts section in your MathJax.Hub.Config() call.
For example
MathJax.Hub.Config({
MatchWebFonts: {
matchFor: {
"HTML-CSS": true,
NativeMML: false,
SVG: false
},
fontCheckDelay: 2000,
fontCheckTimeout: 30 * 1000
}
});
would ask to apply font size matching for the HTML-CSS output mode but not for the NativeMML or SVG modes. It would also tell the extension to wait 2 seconds before starting to look for web font arrivals, and to continue checking for 30 seconds.
This extension is designed for pages that have mathematics within text that is displayed using webfonts, and works around a basic problem of webfonts – a missing API. Webfonts often don’t appear until after a delay, and the browser will substitute another font until then; unfortunately there is no signal for when the font becomes available. Since the arrival of the webfonts can significantly change ex and em sizes (and MathJax checks these to match them with its own font size), this extension will check for changes of em and ex sizes (indicating the arrival of webfonts) and rerender equations if necessary.
-
matchFor: { ... } This block controls whether to apply font size matching for each output mode.
-
"HTML-CSS": "true" Whether to match the font size for the HTML-CSS output.
-
NativeMML: "true" Whether to match the font size for the NativeMML output.
-
SVG: "true" Whether to match the font size for the SVG output.
-
-
fontCheckDelay: 500 Initial delay before the first check for web fonts (in milliseconds).
-
fontCheckTimeout: 15 * 1000 How long to keep looking for fonts (in milliseconds).
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Third-party Extensions¶
MathJax can load extensions (and configurations) from arbitrary locations. This allows authors and developers to easily integrate custom code.
Custom extension path configuration¶
Usually, third-party extensions have to be specified with their full
paths (and matching loadComplete calls); this limits portability. To
simplify this process, the MathJax configuration can include (possibly
multiple) third-party locations for easier reference.
To specify the URL, set MathJax.Ajax.config.path["Extra"] in your
configuration file, for example,
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Ajax.config.path["Extra"] = "http://my.extra.com/mathjax/extra";
</script>
or equivalently,
<script type="text/javascript">
window.MathJax = {
AuthorInit: function () {
MathJax.Ajax.config.path["Extra"] = "http://my.extra.com/mathjax/extra";
}
};
</script>
Configuring this path will allow you to load extensions using the [Extra]
prefix. To continue the example, the following configuration would then load
http://my.extra.com/mathjax/extra/spiffy.js.
MathJax.Hub.Config({
extensions: ["[Extra]/spiffy.js"]
});
Note that the extension’s loadComplete call needs to match this path,
i.e., spiffy.js should end with
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[Extra]/spiffy.js");
MathJax Third-Party extension repository¶
We host a third-party extension repository on a cdn. This repository allows developers to make their custom extensions easily available to all MathJax users.
The code of the repository is hosted on Github at github.com/mathjax/MathJax-third-party-extensions and is mirrored to a cdn at cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/contrib/
To add your extension, please follow the guidelines of the repository. To add the third party repository to your configuration use
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Ajax.config.path["Contrib"] = "//cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/contrib";
</script>
or equivalently,
<script type="text/javascript">
window.MathJax = {
AuthorInit: function () {
MathJax.Ajax.config.path["Contrib"] = "//cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/contrib";
}
};
</script>
Advanced Topics¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax Processing Model¶
The purpose of MathJax is to bring the ability to include mathematics easily in web pages to as wide a range of browsers as possible. Authors can specify mathematics in a variety of formats (e.g., MathML, LaTeX, or AsciiMath), and MathJax provides high-quality mathematical typesetting even in those browsers that do not have native MathML support. This all happens without the need for special downloads or plugins, but rendering will be enhanced if high-quality math fonts (e.g., STIX) are available to the browser.
MathJax is broken into several different kinds of components: page preprocessors, input processors, output processors, and the MathJax Hub that organizes and connects the others. The input and output processors are called jax, and are described in more detail below.
When MathJax runs, it looks through the page for special tags that hold mathematics; for each such tag, it locates an appropriate input jax which it uses to convert the mathematics into an internal form (called an element jax), and then calls an output jax to transform the internal format into HTML content that displays the mathematics within the page. The page author configures MathJax by indicating which input and output jax are to be used.
Often, and especially with pages that are authored by hand, the
mathematics is not stored (initially) within the special tags needed
by MathJax, as that would require more notation than the average page
author is willing to type. Instead, it is entered in a form that is
more natural to the page author, for example, using the standard TeX
math delimiters $...$ and $$...$$ to indicate what part of the
document is to be typeset as mathematics. In this case, MathJax can
run a preprocessor to locate the math delimiters and replace them by
the special tags that it uses to mark the formulas. There are
preprocessors for TeX notation, MathML
notation, AsciiMath notation and the jsMath notation that uses span and div tags.
For pages that are constructed programmatically, such as HTML
pages that result from running a processor on text in some other
format (e.g., pages produced from Markdown documents, or via programs
like tex4ht), it would be best to use MathJax’s special tags
directly, as described below, rather than having MathJax run
another preprocessor. This will speed up the final display of the
mathematics, since the extra preprocessing step would not be needed.
It also avoids the conflict between the use of the less-than sign,
<, in mathematics and as an HTML special character (that starts
an HTML tag), and several other issues involved in having the
mathematics directly in the text of the page (see the documentation on
the various input jax for more details on this).
How mathematics is stored in the page¶
In order to identify mathematics in the page, MathJax uses special
<script> tags to enclose the mathematics. This is done because
such tags can be located easily, and because their content is not
further processed by the browser; for example, less-than signs can be
used as they are in mathematics, without worrying about them being
mistaken for the beginnings of HTML tags. One may also consider the
math notation as a form of “script” for the mathematics, so a
<script> tag makes at least some sense for storing the math.
Each <script> tag has a type attribute that identifies the
kind of script that the tag contains. The usual (and default) value
is type="text/javascript", and when a script has this type, the
browser executes the script as a javascript program. MathJax,
however, uses the type math/tex to identify mathematics in the TeX
and LaTeX notation, math/mml for mathematics in MathML notation, and
math/asciimath for mathematics in AsciiMath notation. When the
tex2jax, mml2jax, or asciimath2jax preprocessors run, they
create <script> tags with these types so that MathJax can process
them when it runs its main typesetting pass.
For example,
<script type="math/tex">x+\sqrt{1-x^2}</script>
represents an in-line equation in TeX notation, and
<script type="math/tex; mode=display">
\sum_{n=1}^\infty {1\over n^2} = {\pi^2\over 6}
</script>
is a displayed TeX equation.
Alternatively, using MathML notation, you could use
<script type="math/mml">
<math>
<mi>x</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<msqrt>
<mn>1</mn>
<mo>−<!-- − --></mo>
<msup>
<mi>x</mi>
<mn>2</mn>
</msup>
</msqrt>
</math>
</script>
for in-line math, or
<script type="math/mml">
<math display="block">
<mrow>
<munderover>
<mo>∑<!-- ∑ --></mo>
<mrow>
<mi>n</mi>
<mo>=</mo>
<mn>1</mn>
</mrow>
<mi mathvariant="normal">∞<!-- ∞ --></mi>
</munderover>
</mrow>
<mrow>
<mfrac>
<mn>1</mn>
<msup>
<mi>n</mi>
<mn>2</mn>
</msup>
</mfrac>
</mrow>
<mo>=</mo>
<mrow>
<mfrac>
<msup>
<mi>π<!-- π --></mi>
<mn>2</mn>
</msup>
<mn>6</mn>
</mfrac>
</mrow>
</math>
</script>
for displayed equations in MathML notation. As other input jax are created, they will use other types to identify the mathematics they can process.
Page authors can use one of MathJax’s preprocessors to convert from
math delimiters that are more natural for the author to type (e.g.,
TeX math delimiters like $$...$$) to MathJax’s <script>
format. Blog and wiki software could extend from their own markup
languages to include math delimiters, which they could convert to
MathJax’s <script> format automatically.
Note, however, that Internet Explorer has a bug that causes it to
remove the space before a <script> tag if there is also a space
after it, which can cause serious spacing problems with in-line math
in Internet Explorer. There are three possible solutions to this in
MathJax. The recommended way is to use a math preview (an element
with class MathJax_Preview) that is non-empty and comes right
before the <script> tag. Its contents can be just the word
[math], so it does not have to be specific to the mathematics
script that follows; it just has to be non-empty (though it could have
its style set to display:none). See also the preJax and
postJax options in the Core Configuration Options document for another approach.
The components of MathJax¶
The main components of MathJax are its preprocessors, its input and output jax, and the MathJax Hub, which coordinates the actions of the other components.
Input jax are associated with the different script types (like math/tex or math/mml) and the mapping of a particular type to a particular jax is made when the various jax register their abilities with the MathJax Hub at configuration time. For example, the MathML input jax registers the math/mml type, so MathJax will know to call the MathML input jax when it sees math elements of that type. The role of the input jax is to convert the math notation entered by the author into the internal format used by MathJax (called an element jax). This internal format is essentially MathML (represented as JavaScript objects), so an input jax acts as a translator into MathML.
Output jax convert that internal element jax format into a specific output format. For example, the NativeMML output jax inserts MathML tags into the page to represent the mathematics, while the HTML-CSS output jax uses HTML with CSS styling to lay out the mathematics so that it can be displayed even in browsers that don’t understand MathML. MathJax also has an SVG output jax that will render the mathematics using scalable vector grtaphics. Output jax could be produced that render the mathematics using HTML5 canvas elements, for example, or that speak an equation for blind users. The MathJax contextual menu can be used to switch between the output jax that are available.
Each input and output jax has a small configuration file that is
loaded when that input jax is included in the jax array in the
MathJax configuration, and a larger file that implements the core
functionality of that particular jax. The latter file is loaded the
first time the jax is needed by MathJax to process some mathematics.
Most of the combined configuration files include only the small
configuration portion for the input and output jax, making the
configuraiton file smaller and faster to load for those pages that
don’t actually incldue mathematics; the combined configurations that
end in -full include both parts of the jax, so there is no delay
when the math is to be rendered, but at the expense of a larger
initial download.
The MathJax Hub keeps track of the internal representations of the various mathematical equations on the page, and can be queried to obtain information about those equations. For example, one can obtain a list of all the math elements on the page, or look up a particular one, or find all the elements with a given input format, and so on. In a dynamically generated web page, an equation where the source mathematics has changed can be asked to re-render itself, or if a new paragraph is generated that might include mathematics, MathJax can be asked to process the equations it contains.
The Hub also manages issues concerning mouse events and other user interaction with the equation itself. Parts of equations can be made active so that mouse clicks cause event handlers to run, or activate hyperlinks to other pages, and so on, making the mathematics as dynamic as the rest of the page.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax Startup Sequence¶
When you load MathJax.js into a web page, it configures itself and
immediately begins loading the components it needs. As MathJax starts
up, it uses its signaling mechanism
to indicate the actions that it is taking so that MathJax extensions
can tie into the initialization process, and so other applications
within the page can synchronize their actions with MathJax.
The startup process performs the following actions:
- It creates the
MathJaxvariable, and defines the following subsystems:MathJax.Object(object-oriented programming model)MathJax.Callback(callbacks, signals, and queues)MathJax.Ajax(file-loading and style-creation code)MathJax.HTML(support code for creating HTML elements)MathJax.Localization(alternative language support)MathJax.Message(manages the menu line in the lower left)MathJax.Hub(the core MathJax functions)
- It then creates the base
MathJax.InputJax,MathJax.OutputJax, andMathJax.ElementJaxobjects.
- MathJax sets up the default configuration, and creates the signal objects used for the startup and hub actions.
- MathJax locates the
<script>tag that loaded theMathJax.jsfile, and sets theMathJax.Hub.config.rootvalue to reflect the location of the MathJax root directory.
- MathJax determines the browser being used and its version. It sets
up the
MathJax.Hub.Browserobject, which includes the browser name and version, plusisMac,isPC,isMSIE, and so on.
- MathJax executes the
AuthorInit()function specified from in-lineMathJax = {...}configuration.
- MathJax sets up the
MathJax.Hub.queuecommand queue, and populates it with the commands MathJax runs at startup. This includes creating theMathJax.Hub.Startup.onloadonload handler that is used to synchronize MathJax’s action with the loading of the page.
Once the MathJax.Hub.queue is created, the following actions are
pushed into the queue:
- Post the
Beginstartup signal
- Perform the configuration actions:
- Post the
Begin Configstartup signal - Load any configuration files specified via
config=as a script parameter - Perform author configuration from in-line
MathJax = {...} - Execute the content of the
<script>that loaded MathJax, if it is not empty - Wait for the
delayStartupUntilcondition to be met, if one was specified - Execute any
text/x-mathjax-configscript blocks - load the files listed in the
MathJax.Hub.config.configarray - Post the
End Configstartup signal
- Post the
- Load the cookie values:
- Post the
Begin Cookiestartup signal - Load the menu cookie values
- Use the cookie to set the renderer, if it is set
- Post the
End Cookiestartup signal
- Post the
- Define the MathJax styles:
- Post the
Begin Stylesstartup signal - Load the stylesheet files from the
MathJax.Hub.config.stylesheetsarray - Define the stylesheet described in
MathJax.Hub.config.styles - Post the
End Stylesstartup signal
- Post the
- Initialize the Message system (the grey information box in the lower left)
- Load the jax configuration files:
- Post the
Begin Jaxstartup signal - Load the jax config files from the
MathJax.Hub.config.jaxarray- The jax will register themselves when they are loaded
- Post the
End Jaxstartup signal
- Post the
- Load the extension files:
- Post the
Begin Extensionsstartup signal - Load the files from the
MathJax.Hub.config.extensionsarray- Most extensions will post a
[name] ReadyorExtension [name] Readystartup message when they are loaded (where[name]is the name of the extension)
- Most extensions will post a
- Post the
End Extensionsstartup signal
- Post the
- Set the MathJax menu’s renderer value based on the jax that have been loaded
- Wait for the onload handler to fire (in MathJax v2.0 this can
occur on the
DOMContentLoadedevent rather than the page’sonloadevent, so processing of mathematics can start earlier)
- Set
MathJax.isReadytotrue
- Perform the typesetting pass (preprocessors and processors)
- Post the
Begin Typesetstartup signal - Post the
Begin PreProcesshub signal - Run the registered preprocessors
- Post the
End PreProcesshub signal - Clear the hub signal history
- Post the
Begin Processhub signal - Process the math script elements on the page
- There are a number of Hub signals generated during math
processing, including a signal that a
Mathaction is starting (with a parameter indicating what action that is),BeginandEnd Math Inputmessages, andBeginandEnd Math Outputsignals. - Each new math element generates a
New Mathhub signal with the math element’s ID
- There are a number of Hub signals generated during math
processing, including a signal that a
- Post the
End Processhub signal - Post the
End Typesetstartup signal
- Post the
- Jump to the location specified in the URL’s hash reference, if any.
- Initiate timers to load the zoom and menu code, if it hasn’t already been loading in the configuration (so it will be ready when the user needs it).
- Post the
Endstartup signal
The loading of the jax and extensions in steps 6 and 7 are now done in parallel, rather than sequentially. That is, all the jax and extensions are requested simultaneously, so they load concurrently. That means they can load in any order, and that the begin and end signals for the jax and extensions can be intermixed. (In general, you will get Begin Jax followed by Begin Extensions, but the order of End Jax and End Extensions will depend on the files being loaded.) Both 6 and 7 must complete, however, before 8 will be performed.
See the test/sample-signals.html file to see the signals in action.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Synchronizing your code with MathJax¶
MathJax performs much of its activity asynchronously, meaning that the calls that you make to initiate these actions will return before the actions are completed, and your code will continue to run even though the actions have not been finished (and may not even be started yet). Actions such as loading files, loading web-based fonts, and creating stylesheets all happen asynchronously within the browser, and since JavaScript has no method of halting a program while waiting for an action to complete, synchronizing your code with these types of actions is made much more difficult. MathJax uses three mechanisms to overcome this language shortcoming: callbacks, queues, and signals.
Callbacks are functions that are called when an action is completed, so that your code can continue where it left off when the action was initiated. Rather than have a single routine that initiates an action, waits for it to complete, and then goes on, you break the function into two parts: a first part that sets up and initiates the action, and a second that runs after the action is finished. Callbacks are similar to event handlers that you attach to DOM elements, and are called when a certain action occurs. See the Callback Object reference page for details of how to specify a callback.
Queues are MathJax’s means of synchronizing actions that must be performed sequentially, even when they involve asynchronous events like loading files or dynamically creating stylesheets. The actions that you put in the queue are Callback objects that will be performed in sequence, with MathJax handling the linking of one action to the next. MathJax maintains a master queue that you can use to synchronize with MathJax, but you can also create your own private queues for actions that need to be synchronized with each other, but not to MathJax as a whole. See the Queue Object reference page for more details.
Signals are another means of synchronizing your own code with
MathJax. Many of the important actions that MathJax takes (like
typesetting new math on the page, or loading an external component)
are “announced” by posting a message to a special object called a
Signal. Your code can register an interest in receiving one or more
of these signals by providing a callback to be called when the signal
is posted. When the signal arrives, MathJax will call your code.
This works somewhat like an event handler, except that many different
types of events can go through the same signal, and the signals have a
“memory”, meaning that if you register an interest in a particular
type of signal and that signal has already occurred, you will be told
about the past occurrences as well as any future ones. See the
Signal Object reference page for more details.
See also the test/sample-signals.html
file in the MathJax test directory for a working example of using
signals.
Each of these is explained in more detail in the links below:
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Using Callbacks¶
A “callback” is a function that MathJax calls when it completes an action that may occur asynchronously (like loading a file). Many of MathJax’s functions operate asynchronously, and MathJax uses callbacks to allow you to synchronize your code with the action of those functions. The MathJax.Callback structure manages these callbacks. Callbacks can include not only a function to call, but also data to be passed to the function, and an object to act as the JavaScript this value in the resulting call (i.e., the object on which the callback is to execute).
Callbacks can be collected into Queues where the callbacks will be processed in order, with later callbacks waiting until previous ones have completed before they are called. They are also used with Signals as the means of receiving information about the signals as they occur.
A number of methods in MathJax.Hub and MathJax.Ajax accept callback specifications as arguments and return callback structures. These routines always will return a callback even when none was specified in the arguments, and in that case, the callback is a “do nothing” callback. The reason for this is so that the resulting callback can be used in a MathJax.Callback.Queue for synchronization purposes, so that the actions following it in the queue will not be performed until after the callback has been fired.
For example, the MathJax.Ajax.Require() method can be used to
load external files, and it returns a callback that is called when the
file has been loaded and executed. If you want to load several files
and wait for them all to be loaded before performing some action, you
can create a Queue into which you push the results of the
MathJax.Ajax.Require() calls, and then push a callback for the
action. The final action will not be performed until all the
file-load callbacks (which precede it in the queue) have been called;
i.e., the action will not occur until all the files are loaded.
Specifying a Callback¶
Callbacks can be specified in a number of different ways, depending on the functionality that is required of the callback. The easiest case is to simply provide a function to be called, but it is also possible to include data to pass to the function when it is called, and to specify the object that will be used as this when the function is called.
For example, the MathJax.Ajax.Require() method can accept a
callback as its second argument (it will be called when the file given
as the first argument is loaded and executed). So you can call
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/config/myConfig.js",function () {
alert("My configuration file is loaded");
});
and an alert will appear when the file is loaded. An example of passing arguments to the callback function includes the following:
function loadHook (x) {alert("loadHook: "+x)}
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/config/myConfig.js",[loadHook,"myConfig"]);
Here, the loadHook() function accepts one argument and generates
an alert that includes the value passed to it. The callback in the
MathJax.Ajax.Require() call is [loadHook,"myConfig"],
which means that (the equivalent of) loadHook("myConfig") will be
performed when the file is loaded. The result should be an alert with
the text loadHook: myConfig.
The callback for the MathJax.Ajax.Require() method actually
gets called with a status value, in addition to any parameters already
included in the callback specification, that indicates whether the
file loaded successfully, or failed for some reason (perhaps the file
couldn’t be found, or it failed to compile and run). So you could use
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/config/myConfig.js",function (status) {
if (status === MathJax.Ajax.STATUS.OK) {
alert("My configuration file is loaded");
} else {
alert("My configuration file failed to load!");
}
});
to check if the file loaded properly. With additional parameters, the example might be
function loadHook (x,status) {alert("loadHook: "+x+" has status "+status)}
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/config/myConfig.js",[loadHook,"myConfig"]);
Note that the parameters given in the callback specification are used first, and then additional parameters from the call to the callback come afterward.
Callbacks to Object Methods¶
When you use a method of a JavaScript object, a special variable called this is defined that refers to the object whose method is being called. It allows you to access other methods or properties of the object without knowing explicitly where the object is stored.
For example,
var aPerson = {
firstname: "John",
lastname: "Smith",
showName: function () {alert(this.firstname+" "+this.lastname)}
};
creates an object that contains three items, a firstname, and
lastname, and a method that shows the person’s full name in an
alert. So aPerson.showName() would cause an alert with the text
John Smith to appear. Note, however that this only works if the
method is called as aPerson.showName(); if instead you did
var f = aPerson.showName; // assign f the function from aPerson
f(); // and call the function
the association of the function with the data in aPerson is lost,
and the alert will probably show undefined undefined. (In this
case, f will be called with this set to the window
variable, and so this.firstname and this.lastname will refer
to undefined values.)
Because of this, it is difficult to use an object’s method as a callback if you refer to it as a function directly. For example,
var aFile = {
name: "[MathJax]/config/myConfig.js",
onload: function (status) {
alert(this.name+" is loaded with status "+status);
}
};
MathJax.Ajax.Require(aFile.name,aFile.onload);
would produce an alert indicating that “undefined” was loaded with a
particular status. That is because aFile.onload is a reference to
the onload method, which is just a function, and the association
with the aFile object is lost. One could do
MathJax.Ajax.Require(aFile.name,function (status) {aFile.onload(status)});
but that seems needlessly verbose, and it produces a closure when one is not really needed. Instead, MathJax provides an alternative specification for a callback that allows you to specify both the method and the object it comes from:
MathJax.Ajax.Require(aFile.name,["onload",aFile]);
This requests that the callback should call aFile.onload as the
function, which will maintain the connection between aFile and its
method, thus preserving the correct value for this within the method.
As in the previous cases, you can pass parameters to the method as well by including them in the array that specifies the callback:
MathJax.Ajax.Require("filename",["method",object,arg1,arg2,...]);
This approach is useful when you are pushing a callback for one of MathJax’s Hub routines into the MathJax processing queue. For example,
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset",MathJax.Hub,"MathDiv"]);
pushes the equivalent of MathJax.Hub.Typeset("MathDiv") into the
processing queue.
See the Callback Object reference pages for more information about the valid methods of specifying a callback.
Creating a Callback Explicitly¶
When you call a method that accepts a callback, you usually pass it a callback specification (like in the examples above), which describes a callback (the method will create the actual Callback object, and return that to you as its return value). You don’t usually create Callback objects directly yourself.
There are times, however, when you may wish to create a callback
object for use with functions that don’t create callbacks for you.
For example, the setTimeout() function can take a function as its
argument, and you may want that function to be a method of an object,
and would run into the problem described in the previous section if
you simply passed the object’s method to setTimeout(). Or you
might want to pass an argument to the function called by
setTimeout(). (Altough the setTimeout() function can accept
additional arguements that are supposed to be passed on to the code
when it is called, some versions of Internet Explorer do not implement
that feature, so you can’t rely on it.) You can use a Callback
object to do this, and the MathJax.Callback() method will
create one for you. For example,
function f(x) {alert("x = "+x)}
setTimeout(MathJax.Callback([f,"Hello World!"]),500);
would create a callback that calls f("Hello World!"), and
schedules it to be called in half a second.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Using Queues¶
The callback queue is one of MathJax’s main tools for synchronizing its actions, both internally, and with external programs, like javascript code that you may write as part of dynamic web pages. Because many actions in MathJax (like loading files) operate asynchronously, MathJax needs a way to coordinate those actions so that they occur in the right order. The MathJax.Callback.Queue object provides that mechanism.
A callback queue is a list of commands that will be performed one at a time, in order. If the return value of one of the commands is a Callback object, processing is suspended until that callback is called, and then processing of the commands is resumed. In this way, if a command starts an asynchronous operation like loading a file, it can return the callback for that file-load operation and the queue will wait until the file has loaded before continuing. Thus a queue can be used to guarantee that commands don’t get performed until other ones are known to be finished, even if those commands usually operate asynchronously.
Constructing Queues¶
A queue is created via the MathJax.Callback.Queue() command,
which returns a MathJax.Callback.Queue object. The queue
itself consists of a series of commands given as callback
specifications (see Using Callbacks for
details on callbacks), which allow you to provide functions (together
with their arguments) to be executed. You can provide the collection
of callback specifications when the queue is created by passing them
as arguments to MathJax.Callback.Queue(), or you can create an
empty queue to which commands are added later. Once a
MathJax.Callback.Queue object is created, you can push
additional callbacks on the end of the queue; if the queue is empty,
the command will be performed immediately, while if the queue is
waiting for another command to complete, the new command will be
queued for later processing.
For example,
function f(x) {alert(x)}
var queue = MathJax.Callback.Queue([f, 15], [f, 10], [f, 5]);
queue.Push([f, 0]);
would create a queue containing three commands, each calling the
function f with a different input, that are performed in order. A
fourth command is then added to the queue, to be performed after the
other three. In this case, the result will be four alerts, the first
with the number 15, the second with 10, the third with 5 and the
fourth with 0. Of course f is not a function that operates
asynchronously, so it would have been easier to just call f four
times directly. The power of the queue comes from calling commands
that could operate asynchronously. For example:
function f(x) {alert(x)}
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
[f, 1],
["Require", MathJax.Ajax, "[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js"],
[f, 2]
);
Here, the command MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js")
is queued between two calls to f. The first call to f(1) will
be made immediately, then the MathJax.Ajax.Require() statement
will be performed. Since the Require method loads a file, it
operates asynchronously, and its return value is a MathJax.Callback
object that will be called when the file is loaded. The call to
f(2) will not be made until that callback is performed,
effectively synchronizing the second call to f with the completion
of the file loading. This is equivalent to
f(1);
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js", [f, 2]);
since the Require() command allows you to specify a (single)
callback to be performed on the completion of the file load. Note,
however, that the queue could be used to synchronize several file
loads along with multiple function calls, so is more flexible.
For example,
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
["Require", MathJax.Ajax, "[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js"],
[f, 1],
["Require", MathJax.Ajax, "[MathJax]/config/local/AMSmathAdditions.js"],
[f, 2]
);
would load the AMSmath extension, then call f(1) then load the
local AMSmath modifications, and then call f(2), with each action
waiting for the previous one to complete before being performed
itself.
Callbacks versus Callback Specifications¶
If one of the callback specifications is an actual callback object itself, then the queue will wait for that action to be performed before proceeding. For example,
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
[f, 1],
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js"),
[f, 2],
);
starts the loading of the AMSmath extension before the queue is
created, and then creates the queue containing the call to f, the
callback for the file load, and the second call to f. The queue
performs f(1), waits for the file load callback to be called, and
then calls f(2). The difference between this and the second
example above is that, in this example the file load is started before
the queue is even created, so the file is potentially loaded and
executed before the call to f(1), while in the example above, the
file load is guaranteed not to begin until after f(1) is executed.
As a further example, consider
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js"),
[f, 1],
MathJax.Ajax.Require("[MathJax]/config/local/AMSmathAdditions.js"),
[f, 2]
);
in comparison to the example above that uses ["Require",
MathJax.Ajax, "[MathJax]/extensions/AMSmath.js"] and ["Require",
MathJax.Ajax, "[MathJax]/config/local/AMSmathAdditions.js"] instead. In that
example, AMSmath.js is loaded, then f(1) is called, then the
local additions are loaded, then f(2) is called.
Here, however, both file loads are started before the queue is
created, and are operating in parallel (rather than sequentially as in
the earlier example). It is possible for the loading of the local
additions to complete before the AMSmath extension is loaded in this
case, which was guaranteed not to happen in the other example.
Note, however, that f(1) is guaranteed not to be performed until
after the AMSmath extensions load, and f(2) will not occur until
after both files are loaded.
In this way, it is possible to start asynchronous loading of several files simultaneously, and wait until all of them are loaded (in whatever order) to perform some command. For instance,
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
MathJax.Ajax.Require("file1.js"),
MathJax.Ajax.Require("file2.js"),
MathJax.Ajax.Require("file3.js"),
MathJax.Ajax.Require("file4.js"),
[f, "all done"]
);
starts four files loading all at once, and waits for all four to
complete before calling f("all done"). The order in which they
complete is immaterial, and they all are being requested
simultaneously.
The MathJax Processing Queue¶
MathJax uses a queue stored as MathJax.Hub.queue to regulate its
own actions so that they operate in the right order even when some
of them include asynchronous operations. You can take advantage of
that queue when you make calls to MathJax methods that need to be
synchronized with the other actions taken by MathJax. It may not
always be apparent, however, which methods fall into that category.
The main source of asynchronous actions in MathJax is the loading of external files, so any action that may cause a file to be loaded may act asynchronously. Many important actions do so, including some that you might not expect; e.g., typesetting mathematics can cause files to be loaded. This is because some TeX commands, for example, are rare enough that they are not included in the core TeX input processor, but instead are defined in extensions that are loaded automatically when needed. The typesetting of an expression containing one of these TeX commands can cause the typesetting process to be suspended while the file is loaded, and then restarted when the extension has become available.
As a result, any call to MathJax.Hub.Typeset() (or
MathJax.Hub.Process(), or MathJax.Hub.Update(), etc.)
could return long before the mathematics is actually typeset, and the
rest of your code may run before the mathematics is available. If you
have code that relies on the mathematics being visible on screen, you
will need to break that out into a separate operation that is
synchronized with the typesetting via the MathJax queue.
Furthermore, your own typesetting calls may need to wait for file loading to occur that is already underway, so even if you don’t need to access the mathematics after it is typeset, you may still need to queue the typeset command in order to make sure it is properly synchronized with previous typeset calls. For instance, if an earlier call started loading an extension and you start another typeset call before that extension is fully loaded, MathJax’s internal state may be in flux, and it may not be prepared to handle another typeset operation yet. This is even more important if you are using other libraries that may call MathJax, in which case your code may not be aware of the state that MathJax is in.
For these reasons, it is always best to perform typesetting operations through the MathJax queue, and the same goes for any other action that could cause files to load. A good rule of thumb is that, if a MathJax function includes a callback argument, that function may operate asynchronously; you should use the MathJax queue to perform it and any actions that rely on its results.
To place an action in the MathJax queue, use the
MathJax.Hub.Queue() command. For example
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset",MathJax.Hub,"MathDiv"]);
would queue the command MathJax.Hub.Typeset("MathDiv"), causing
the contents of the DOM element with id equal to MathDiv to be
typeset.
One of the uses of the MathJax queue is to allow you to synchronize an
action with the startup process for MathJax. If you want to have a
function performed after MathJax has become completely set up (and
performed its initial typesetting of the page), you can push it onto
the MathJax.Hub.queue so that it won’t be performed until MathJax
finishes everything it has queued when it was loaded. For example,
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
<script>
MathJax.Hub.Queue(function () {
// ... your startup commands here ...
});
</script>
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Using Signals¶
Because much of MathJax operates asynchronously, it is important for
MathJax to be able to indicate to other components operating on the
page that certain actions have been taken. For example, as MathJax is
starting up, it loads external files such as its configuration files
and the various input and output jax that are used on the
page. This means that MathJax may not be ready to run until well
after the <script> tag that loads MathJax.js has executed. If
another component on the page needs to call MathJax to process some
mathematics, it will need to know when MathJax is ready to do that.
Thus MathJax needs a way to signal other components that it is
initialized and ready to process mathematics. Other events that might
need to be signaled include the appearance of newly processed
mathematics on the web page, the loading of a new extension, and so
on.
The mechanism provided by MathJax for handling this type of communication is the Callback Signal. The Callback Signal object provides a standardized mechanism for sending and receiving messages between MathJax and other code on the page. A signal acts like a mailbox where MathJax places messages for others to read. Those interested in seeing the messages can register an interest in receiving a given signal, and when MathJax posts a message on that signal, all the interested parties will be notified. No new posts to the signal will be allowed until everyone who is listening to the signal has had a chance to receive the first one. If a signal causes a listener to begin an asynchronous operation (such as loading a file), the listener can indicate that its reply to the signal is going to be delayed, and MathJax will wait until the asynchronous action is complete before allowing additional messages to be posted to this signal. In this way, posting a signal may itself be an asynchronous action.
The posts to a signal are cached so that if a new listener expresses
an interest in the signal, it will receive all the past posts as well
as any future ones. For example, if a component on the page needs to
know when MathJax is set up, it can express an interest in the startup
signal’s End message. If MathJax is not yet set up, the component
will be signaled when MathJax is ready to begin, but if MathJax is
already set up, the component will receive the End message
immediately, since that message was cached and is available to any new
listeners. In this way, signals can be used to pass messages without
worrying about the timing of when the signaler and listener are ready
to send or receive signals: a listener will receive messages even if
it starts listening after they were sent.
One way that MathJax makes use of this feature is in configuring its
various extensions. The extension may not be loaded when the user’s
configuration code runs, so the configuration code can’t modify the
extension because it isn’t there yet. Fortunately, most extensions
signal when they are loaded and initialized via an Extension [name]
Ready message, or just [name] Ready, so the configuration code
can implement a listener for that message, and have the listener
perform the configuration when the message arrives. But even if the
extension has already been loaded, this will still work, because the
listener will receive the ready signal even if it has already been
posted. In this way, listening for signals is a robust method of
synchronizing code components no matter when they are loaded and run.
In some cases, it may be inappropriate for a new listener to receive past messages that were sent to a signal object. There are two ways to handle this: first, a new listener can indicate that it doesn’t want to hear old messages when it attaches itself to a signal object. The sender can also indicate that past messages are not appropriate for new listeners. It does this by clearing the message history so that new listeners have no old posts to hear.
The actual message passed along by the signal can be anything, but is frequently a string constant indicating the message value. It could also be a JavaScript array containing data, or an object containing key:value pairs. All the listeners receive the data as part of the message, and can act on it in whatever ways they see fit.
Creating a Listener¶
MathJax maintains two separate pre-defined signal channels: the
startup signal and the processing signal (or the hub signal).
The startup signal is where the messages about different components
starting up and becoming ready appear. The processing signal is where
the messages are sent about processing mathematics, like the New
Math messages for when newly typeset mathematics appears on the
page. The latter is cleared when a new processing pass is started (so
messages from past processing runs are not kept).
The easiest way to create a listener is to use either
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook() or
MathJax.Hub.Register.MessageHook(). The first sets a listener
on the startup signal, and the latter on the hub processing signal.
You specify the message you want to listen for, and a callback to be
called when it arrives. For example
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready ",function () {
alert("The TeX input jax is loaded and ready!");
});
See the MathJax Startup Sequence page for details of the messages sent during startup. See also the test/sample-signals.html file (and its source) for examples of using signals. This example lists all the signals that occur while MathJax is processing that page, so it gives useful information about the details of the signals produced by various components.
In this example, the listener starts loading an extra configuration file (from the same directory as the web page). Since it returns the callback from that request, the signal processing will wait until that file is completely loaded before it continues; that is, the configuration process is suspended until the extra configuration file has loaded.
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("Begin Config",
function () {return MathJax.Ajax.Require("myConfig.js")}
);
Here is an example that produces an alert each time new mathematics
is typeset on the page. The message includes the DOM id of the
element on the page that contains the newly typeset mathematics as its
second element, so this listener locates the <script> tag
for the math, and displays the original source mathematics for it.
MathJax.Hub.Register.MessageHook("New Math", function (message) {
var script = MathJax.Hub.getJaxFor(message[1]).SourceElement();
alert(message.join(" ")+": '"+script.text+"'");
})
Listening for All Messages¶
If you want to process every message that passes through a signal
channel, you can do that by registering an interest in the signal
rather than registering a message hook. You do this by calling the
signal’s Interest() method, as in the following example.
MathJax.Hub.Startup.signal.Interest(
function (message) {alert("Startup: "+message)}
);
MathJax.Hub.signal.Interest(
function (message) {alert("Hub: "+message)}
);
This will cause an alert for every signal that MathJax produces. You probably don’t want to try this out, since it will produce a lot of them; instead, use the test/sample-signals.html file, which displays them in the web page.
See the Signal Object reference page for details on the structure and methods of the signal object.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Loading MathJax Dynamically¶
MathJax is designed to be included via a <script> tag in the
<head> section of your HTML document, and it does rely on being
part of the original document in that it uses an onload or
DOMContentLoaded event handler to synchronize its actions with the
loading of the page. If you wish to insert MathJax into a document
after it has been loaded, that will normally occur after the page’s
onload handler has fired, and prior to version 2.0, MathJax had to
be told not to wait for the page onload event by calling
MathJax.Hub.Startup.onload() by hand. That is no longer
necessary, as MathJax v2.0 detects whether the page is already
available and when it is, it processes it immediately rather than
waiting for an event that has already happened.
Here is an example of how to load and configure MathJax dynamically:
(function () {
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.src = "https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML";
document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(script);
})();
If you need to provide in-line configuration, you can do that using a MathJax’s configuration script:
(function () {
var head = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0], script;
script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/x-mathjax-config";
script[(window.opera ? "innerHTML" : "text")] =
"MathJax.Hub.Config({\n" +
" tex2jax: { inlineMath: [['$','$'], ['\\\\(','\\\\)']] }\n" +
"});"
head.appendChild(script);
script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.src = "https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML";
head.appendChild(script);
})();
You can adjust the configuration to your needs, but be careful to get
the commas right, as Internet Explorer 6 and 7 will not tolerate an
extra comma before a closing brace. The window.opera test is
because some versions of Opera don’t handle setting script.text
properly, while some versions of Internet Explorer don’t handle
setting script.innerHTML.
Note that the only reliable way to configure MathJax is to use an
in-line configuration block of the type discussed above. You should
not call MathJax.Hub.Config() directly in your code, as it will
not run at the correct time — it will either run too soon, in which case
MathJax may not be defined and the function will throw an error, or it
will run too late, after MathJax has already finished its configuration
process, so your changes will not have the desired effect.
MathJax and GreaseMonkey¶
You can use techniques like the ones discussed above to good effect in GreaseMonkey scripts. There are GreaseMonkey work-alikes for all the major browsers:
- Firefox: GreaseMonkey
- Safari: GreaseKit (also requires SIMBL)
- Opera: Built-in (instructions)
- Internet Explorer: IEPro7
- Chrome: Built-in for recent releases
Note, however, that most browsers don’t allow you to insert a script
that loads a file:// URL into a page that comes from the web (for
security reasons). That means that you can’t have your GreaseMonkey
script load a local copy of MathJax, so you have to refer to a
server-based copy. a cdn works nicely for this.
Here is a script that runs MathJax in any document that contains MathML (whether it includes MathJax or not). That allows browsers that don’t have native MathML support to view any web pages with MathML, even if they say it only works in Firefox and IE+MathPlayer.
// ==UserScript==
// @name MathJax MathML
// @namespace http://www.mathjax.org/
// @description Insert MathJax into pages containing MathML
// @include *
// ==/UserScript==
if ((window.unsafeWindow == null ? window : unsafeWindow).MathJax == null) {
if ((document.getElementsByTagName("math").length > 0) ||
(document.getElementsByTagNameNS == null ? false :
(document.getElementsByTagNameNS("http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML","math").length > 0))) {
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.src = "https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML-full";
document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(script);
}
}
Source: mathjax_mathml.user.js
Here is a script that runs MathJax in Wikipedia pages after first converting the math images to their original TeX code.
// ==UserScript==
// @name MathJax in Wikipedia
// @namespace http://www.mathjax.org/
// @description Insert MathJax into Wikipedia pages
// @include http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*
// ==/UserScript==
if ((window.unsafeWindow == null ? window : unsafeWindow).MathJax == null) {
//
// Replace the images with MathJax scripts of type math/tex
//
var images = document.getElementsByTagName('img'), count = 0;
for (var i = images.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
var img = images[i];
if (img.className === "tex") {
var script = document.createElement("script"); script.type = "math/tex";
if (window.opera) {script.innerHTML = img.alt} else {script.text = img.alt}
img.parentNode.replaceChild(script,img); count++;
}
}
if (count) {
//
// Load MathJax and have it process the page
//
var script = document.createElement("script");
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.src = "https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML-full";
document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(script);
}
}
Source: mathjax_wikipedia.user.js
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Modifying Math on the Page¶
If you are writing a dynamic web page where content containing
mathematics may appear after MathJax has already typeset the rest of
the page, then you will need to tell MathJax to look for mathematics
in the page again when that new content is produced. To do that, you
need to use the MathJax.Hub.Typeset() method. This will cause
the preprocessors (if any were loaded) to run over the page again, and
then MathJax will look for unprocessed mathematics on the page and
typeset it, leaving unchanged any math that has already been typeset.
You should not simply call this method directly, however. Because
MathJax operates asynchonously (see Synchronizing with MathJax for details), you need to be sure that
your call to MathJax.Hub.Typeset() is synchronized with the
other actions that MathJax is taking. For example, it may already be
typesetting portions of the page, or it may be waiting for an output
jax to load, etc., and so you need to queue the typeset action to be
performed after MathJax has finished whatever else it may be doing.
That may be immediately, but it may not, and there is no way to tell.
To queue the typeset action, use the command
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset",MathJax.Hub]);
This will cause MathJax to typeset the page when it is next able to do so. It guarantees that the typesetting will synchronize properly with the loading of jax, extensions, fonts, stylesheets, and other asynchronous activity, and is the only truly safe way to ask MathJax to process additional material.
The MathJax.Hub.Typeset() command also accepts a parameter
that is a DOM element whose content is to be typeset. That could be
a paragraph, or a <div> element, or even a MathJax math
<script> tag. It could also be the DOM id of such an object, in
which case, MathJax will look up the DOM element for you. So
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset",MathJax.Hub,"MathExample"]);
would typeset the mathematics contained in the element whose id is
MathExample. This is equivalent to
var math = document.getElementById("MathExample");
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset",MathJax.Hub,math]);
If no element or element id is provided, the whole document is typeset.
Note that the MathJax.Hub.Queue() method will return
immediately, regardless of whether the typesetting has taken place or
not, so you can not assume that the mathematics is visible after you
make this call. That means that things like the size of the container
for the mathematics may not yet reflect the size of the typeset
mathematics. If you need to perform actions that depend on the
mathematics being typeset, you should push those actions onto the
MathJax.Hub.queue as well.
This can be quite subtle, so you have to think carefully about the structure of your code that works with the typeset mathematics. Also, the things you push onto the queue should be Callback objects that perform the actions you want when they are called, not the results of calling the functions that do what you want.
Manipulating Individual Math Elements¶
If you are not changing a complete DOM structure, but simply want to
update the contents of a single mathematical equation, you do not need
to use innerHTML and MathJax.Hub.Typeset() to preprocess
and process an element’s new content. Instead, you can ask MathJax to
find the element jax for the math element on the page, and use its
methods to modify and update the mathematics that it displays.
For example, suppose you have the following HTML in your document
<div id="MathDiv">
The answer you provided is: \({}\).
</div>
and MathJax has already preprocessed and typeset the mathematics
within the div. A student has typed something elsewhere on the page,
and you want to typeset their answer in the location of the
mathematics that is already there. You could replace the entire
contents of the MathDiv element and call
MathJax.Hub.Typeset() as described above, but there is a more
efficient approach, which is to ask MathJax for the element jax for
the mathematics, and call its method for replacing the formula shown
by that element. For example:
var math = MathJax.Hub.getAllJax("MathDiv")[0];
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Text",math,"x+1"]);
This looks up the list of math elements in the MathDiv element
(there is only one) and takes the first one (element 0) and stores it
in math. This is an element jax object (see the Element
Jax specification for details), which has a
Text() method that can be used to set the input text of the
math element, and retypeset it.
Again, since the typesetting should be synchronized with other actions
of MathJax, the call should be pushed onto the MathJax processing
queue using MathJax.Hub.Queue(), as shown above, rather than
called directly. The example above performs the equivalent of
math.Text("x+1") as soon as MathJax is able to do so. Any
additional actions that rely on the expression x+1 actually
showing on screen should also be pushed onto the queue so that they
will not occur before the math is typeset.
The actions you can perform on an element jax include:
Text(newmath)to set the math text of the element to newmath and typeset.
Rerender()to remove the output and reproduce it again (for example, if CSS has changed that would alter the spacing of the mathematics). Note that the internal representation isn’t regenerated; only the output is.
Reprocess()to remove the output and then retranslate the input into the internal MathML and rerender the output.
Remove()to remove the output for this math element (but not the original
<script>tag).
needsUpdate()to find out if the mathematics has changed so that its output needs to be updated.
SourceElement()to obtain a reference to the original
<script>object that is associated with this element jax.
Note that once you have located an element jax, you can keep using it and don’t have to look it up again. So for the example above, if the student is going to be able to type several different answers that you will want to typeset, you can look up the element jax once at the beginning after MathJax has processed the page the first time, and then use that result each time you adjust the mathematics to be displayed.
To get the element jax the first time, you need to be sure that you ask MathJax for it after MathJax has processed the page the first time. This is another situation where you want to use the MathJax queue. If your startup code performs the commands
var studentDisplay = null;
MathJax.Hub.Queue(function () {
studentDisplay = MathJax.Hub.getAllJax("MathDiv")[0];
});
then you can use
MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Text",studentDisplay,studentAnswer])
to change the student’s answer to be the typeset version of whatever
is in the studentAnswer variable.
Here is a complete example that illustrates this approach. Note,
however, that Internet Explorer does not fire the onchange event
when you press RETURN, so this example does not work as expected in
IE. A more full-featured version that addresses this problem is
available in test/sample-dynamic.html.
<html>
<head>
<title>MathJax Dynamic Math Test Page</title>
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [["$","$"],["\\(","\\)"]]
}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML-full">
</script>
</head>
<body>
<script>
//
// Use a closure to hide the local variables from the
// global namespace
//
(function () {
var QUEUE = MathJax.Hub.queue; // shorthand for the queue
var math = null; // the element jax for the math output.
//
// Get the element jax when MathJax has produced it.
//
QUEUE.Push(function () {
math = MathJax.Hub.getAllJax("MathOutput")[0];
});
//
// The onchange event handler that typesets the
// math entered by the user
//
window.UpdateMath = function (TeX) {
QUEUE.Push(["Text",math,"\\displaystyle{"+TeX+"}"]);
}
})();
</script>
Type some TeX code:
<input id="MathInput" size="50" onchange="UpdateMath(this.value)" />
<p>
<div id="MathOutput">
You typed: ${}$
</div>
</body>
</html>
There are a number of additional example pages at test/examples.html that illustrate how to call MathJax dynamically or perform other actions with MathJax.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Obtaining the MathML for an Expression¶
The toMathML extension generates a string containing the MathML stored in MathJax’s internal format. It is used in the MathJax Menu to generate MathML output for copy&paste under Show Math as -> MathML Code.
The toMathML extension generally works asynchronously because it potentially has to load additional files, in particular if the extension is used before MathJax has produced output rendering.
To use the extension, add "toMathML.js" to the extensions array of your configuration. For example,
MathJax.Hub.Config({
extensions: ["toMathML.js"]
});
The extension can be used by developers to access the MathML representation of an equation (e.g., to be stored for later use). Here is an example of how to make use of the toMathML.js.
function getMathML(jax,callback) {
var mml;
try {
//
// Try to produce the MathML (if an asynchronous
// action occurs, a reset error is thrown)
// Otherwise we got the MathML and call the
// user's callback passing the MathML.
//
mml = jax.root.toMathML("");
} catch(err) {
if (!err.restart) {throw err} // an actual error
//
// For a delay due to file loading
// call this routine again after waiting for the
// the asynchronous action to finish.
//
return MathJax.Callback.After([getMathML,jax,callback],err.restart);
}
//
// Pass the MathML to the user's callback
MathJax.Callback(callback)(mml);
}
This will give you a function that you can pass an Element Jax and a callback function to. The callback will be called with the MathML from the element.
Here is a complete example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>MathJax TeX to MathML Page</title>
<script>
function toMathML(jax,callback) {
var mml;
try {
mml = jax.root.toMathML("");
} catch(err) {
if (!err.restart) {throw err} // an actual error
return MathJax.Callback.After([toMathML,jax,callback],err.restart);
}
MathJax.Callback(callback)(mml);
}
</script>
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {inlineMath: [["$","$"],["\\\\(","\\\\)"]]}
});
MathJax.Hub.Queue(
function () {
var jax = MathJax.Hub.getAllJax();
for (var i = 0; i < jax.length; i++) {
toMathML(jax[i],function (mml) {
alert(jax[i].originalText + "\n\n=>\n\n"+ mml);
});
}
}
);
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML-full"></script>
</head>
<body>
<p>
When $a \ne 0$, there are two solutions to \(ax^2 + bx + c = 0\) and they are
$$x = {-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac} \over 2a}.$$
</p>
</body>
</html>
This example loops through the math elements on the page and displays the original TeX and the resulting MathML.
Note that using the callbacks is the only safe way to do this, as the jax.root.toMathML() call may signal that it needs to load a file by throwing the reset error. If you do not take this into account, your code may work most of the time, but will cause errors in isolated circumstances.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Tutorial: Extension writing¶
MathJax is designed in a way that makes easy to write extensions. Examples can be found in the MathJax third party extensions repository; see also Third-party Extensions.
In this tutorial, we are going to see how to write your own MathJax extension. No specific prerequisites are assumed, except that you already have a local Installing and Testing MathJax and of course some familiarity with how to use MathJax.
The Big Picture¶
We suppose that you have a copy of MathJax in a MathJax/ directory
and that the URL http://localhost/MathJax/ points to that directory.
We also assume that you have a local Web server running at
http://localhost/ ; this is not mandatory but will avoid issues with
the cross origin policy.
First, note that the source code of MathJax is “packed” so that the
Javascript files are smaller and take less time to download. These files
are not easy to read and edit, so for development purpose we will work
with the MathJax/unpacked/ directory. Hence you should load the
unpacked MathJax.js to run MathJax on your pages. For example if you
write a file like
MathJax/unpacked/test0.html
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>testcase</title>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://localhost/MathJax/unpacked/MathJax.js?config=TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML">
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p>TeX: \(\frac a b\)</p>
<p>MathML: <math><msqrt><mi>x</mi></msqrt></math></p>
<p>AsciiMath: `a^2 + b^2 = c^2`</p>
</body>
</html>
then the page http://localhost/MathJax/unpacked/test0.html should
contain formatted equations corresponding to the TeX, MathML and
AsciiMath sources.
MathJax.js is the main file, initializes MathJax and loads all its
components. The most important ones are represented in the diagram
below. The input modes (in blue) are located in unpacked/jax/input/
and transform the corresponding given input text into MathJax’s internal
strutures (in red) located in unpacked/jax/element (only one format
at the moment, essentially “MathML”). Then this internal structure is
rendered by the output modes (in green) located in
unpacked/jax/output. The MathJax extensions are located in
unpacked/extensions/ and can modify or extend the MathJax
components.
One feature of MathJax is that other Javascript files are loaded only when they are necessary. Extensions generally use other components so you must be sure that they are already loaded before running the extension. Similarly, the extension may need to indicate when it is ready so that other components can use it. Synchronizing your code with MathJax is explained in the MathJax documentation but we will review the rules when needed.
A Simple measureTime Extension¶
In this section, we are willing to write a small extension that indicates at the bottom of the page how much time MathJax has taken to typeset the page. First we create the following Javascript file:
// unpacked/extensions/measureTime.js
MathJax.HTML.addElement(document.body, "div", {style: {color: "red"}}, ["Hello World!"]);
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/measureTime.js");
The first line is just using the convenient
MathJax.HTML to
create a <div style="color: red;">Hello World!</div> element. The
second line will tell to MathJax that measureTime.js has been
successfully loaded. Again, we refer to Synchronizing your code with
MathJax for
details. Now modify test0.html and insert a text/x-mathjax-config
script just before the one loading MathJax. Use that to add
measureTime.js to the list of extensions to load:
<!-- MathJax/test/test1.html -->
...
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.config.extensions.push("measureTime.js");
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://localhost/MathJax/unpacked/MathJax.js?config=TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML">
...
The page http://localhost/MathJax/unpacked/test1.html should now
render the same as test0.html, except that a red “Hello World!”
message is appended at the end of the page!
Our goal is now to replace that message by something like “Typeset by
MathJax in 2 second(s)”. A quick look at the MathJax Startup
Sequence shows that the
extensions are loaded before the typesetting pass. Also, the typesetting
starts with a “Begin Typeset” signal and ends by a “End Typeset” signal.
The startup sequence ends by a final “End” signal. In order to add
listeners for these signals are sent, we use
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook.
Writing the extension is now straighforward. We save the data specific
to the measureTime extension in a MathJax.Extension.measureTime
object. When we listen the start and end typeset signals we set the
corresponding startTime and endTime members to the current time.
Finally when we listen the final End signal, we append the desired div
(note that the previous version appended it immediately):
// unpacked/extensions/measureTime.js
MathJax.Extension.measureTime = {};
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("Begin Typeset", function () {
MathJax.Extension.measureTime.startTime = (new Date()).getTime();
});
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("End Typeset", function () {
MathJax.Extension.measureTime.endTime = (new Date()).getTime();
});
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("End", function () {
var delta = (MathJax.Extension.measureTime.endTime - MathJax.Extension.measureTime.startTime) / 1000.;
MathJax.HTML.addElement(document.body, "div", null,
["Typeset by MathJax in " + delta + " second(s)"]);
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/measureTime.js");
Now load test1.html again (clearing the browser cache if necessary)
and verify if you see the desired “Typeset by MathJax in … seconds”
message.
Note that this was a basic extension to demonstrate the extension mechanism but it obviously has some limitations e.g. only the typeset time is measured (not the whole MathJax execution time), the message is not updated when you switch the rendering mode via the menu, the message is not localizable etc
Extension to define TeX macros¶
TeX already has a macro mechanism to define new commands from those already available. This mechanism exists in MathJax too and one can rely on it to create a MathJax extension that defines a collection of TeX macros. Consider the following example:
//unpacked/extensions/TeX/Taylor.js
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready", function () {
MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.Add({
macros: {
expexpansion: ["Macro", "\\sum_{n=0}^{+\\infty} \\frac{x^n}{n!}"],
taylor: ["Macro","\\sum_{n=0}^{+\\infty} \\frac{{#1}^{(n)} \\left({#2}\\right)}{n!} {\\left( {#3} - {#2} \\right)}^n", 3],
taylorlog: ["Macro","\\sum_{n=1}^{+\\infty} {(-1)}^{n+1} \\frac{#1^n}{n}", 1],
taylorsin: ["Macro","\\sum_{n=0}^{+\\infty} \\frac{{(-1)}^n}{(2n+1)!} {#1}^{2n+1}", 1]
}
});
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/TeX/Taylor.js");
The structure is similar to the measureTime extension: we wait until the TeX input is ready by listening the appropriate signal. Then we extend the set of TeX macros with some definitions. For example
expexpansion: ["Macro", "\\sum_{n=0}^{+\\infty} \\frac{x^n}{n!}"]
will define a TeX command for the exponential series. Note these definitions are given in Javascript string so you need to escape some special characters: for example double backslashes are used. If your macro has parameters you must specify the expected number thus the “three” in
taylor: ["Macro","\\sum_{n=0}^{+\\infty} \\frac{{#1}^{(n)} \\left({#2}\\right)}{n!} {\\left( {#3} - {#2} \\right)}^n", 3],
You can finally use the Taylor extension in a test page:
<!--MathJax/unpacked/test2.html-->
...
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({ TeX: { extensions: ["Taylor.js"] }});
</script>
...
<body>
\[ \exp(x) = \expexpansion \]
\[ f(x) = \taylor{f}{x}{a} \]
\[ \log(1+h) = \taylorlog{h} \text{ for } |h| < 1 \]
\[ \sin\left(\frac{\epsilon}{3}\right) =
\taylorsin{\left(\frac{\epsilon}{3}\right)} \]
</body>
Dealing with Dependencies¶
Suppose that we want to create another extension Taylor2.js that uses some command from Taylor.js. Hence Taylor2 depends on Taylor and we should do some synchronization. We have already seen that the Taylor extension waits for the “TeX Jax Ready” signal before defining the macros. In order to inform the Taylor2 extensions when it is ready, the Taylor extension must itself send a “TeX Taylor Ready” signal. The appropriate place for that is of course after the macros are defined:
// unpacked/extensions/TeX/Taylor.js
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready", function () {
MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.Add({
...
});
MathJax.Hub.Startup.signal.Post("TeX Taylor Ready");
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/TeX/Taylor.js");
Now define Taylor2.js as follows:
// unpacked/extensions/TeX/Taylor2.js
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready", function () {
MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.Add({
macros: {
sinexpansion: ["Extension", "Taylor"]
}
});
});
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Taylor Ready", function () {
MathJax.Hub.Insert(MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions, {
macros: {
sinexpansion: ["Macro", "\\taylorsin{x}"]
}
});
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/TeX/Taylor2.js");
When the input Jax is ready, \sinexpansion will be define as a
function that loads the Taylor extension and restarts the processing
afterward. When the Taylor extension is ready, \sinexpansion becomes
the wanted \\taylorsin{x} definition. Now, you can use this command
in a test3 page. Note that only only the Taylor2 extension is specified
in the list of extension to load.
<!--MathJax/unpacked/test3.html-->
...
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({ TeX: { extensions: ["Taylor2.js"] }});
</script>
...
<body>
\[ \sin(x) = \sinexpansion \]
...
We won’t give the details in this tutorial, but note that other MathJax components have similar methods to stop, wait for an extension and restart the execution again.
More Advanced Extensions¶
In general, writing more sophisticated extensions require a good
understanding of the MathJax codebase. Although the public MathJax
API is available in the
documentation, this is not always the case of the internal code. The
rule of thumb is thus to read the relevant jax.js files in
unpacked/jax (if necessary the Javascript file they can load too)
and to make your extension redefine or expand the code.
Here is an example. We modify the behavior of \frac so that the
outermost fractions are drawn normally but those that have a \frac
ancestor are drawn bevelled. We also define a new command \bfrac
that draws bevelled fractions by default. It has an optional parameter
to indicate whether we want a bevelled fraction and can take values
“auto” (like \frac), “true” or “false”. One has to read carefully
the TeX parser to understand how this extension is working.
//unpacked/extensions/bevelledFraction.js
MathJax.Hub.Register.StartupHook("TeX Jax Ready", function () {
MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Definitions.Add({
macros: {
frac: "Frac",
bfrac: "BFrac"
}
}, null, true);
MathJax.InputJax.TeX.Parse.Augment({
Frac: function (name) {
var old = this.stack.env.bevelled; this.stack.env.bevelled = true;
var num = this.ParseArg(name);
var den = this.ParseArg(name);
this.stack.env.bevelled = old;
var frac = MathJax.ElementJax.mml.mfrac(num, den);
frac.bevelled = this.stack.env.bevelled;
this.Push(frac);
},
BFrac: function (name) {
var bevelled = this.GetBrackets(name);
if (bevelled === "auto")
bevelled = this.stack.env.bevelled;
else
bevelled = (bevelled !== "false");
var old = this.stack.env.bevelled; this.stack.env.bevelled = true;
var num = this.ParseArg(name);
var den = this.ParseArg(name);
this.stack.env.bevelled = old;
var frac = MathJax.ElementJax.mml.mfrac(num, den);
frac.bevelled = bevelled;
this.Push(frac);
}
});
});
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete("[MathJax]/extensions/TeX/mfracBevelled.js");
Again you can use this command in a test4 page.
<!--MathJax/unpacked/test4.html-->
...
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({ TeX: { extensions: ["mfracBevelled.js"] }});
</script>
...
\[ \frac a b \]
\[ \frac {\frac a b}{\frac c d} \]
\[ \bfrac a b \]
\[ \bfrac[true] a b \]
\[ \bfrac[false] a b \]
\[ \bfrac[auto] a b \]
\[ \frac {\bfrac[auto] a b}{\bfrac[false] a b} \]
\[ \bfrac {\frac a b}{\bfrac[auto] a b} \]
...
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax API¶
The following links document the various components that make up
MathJax. These are implemented as JavaScript objects contained within
the single global variable, MathJax. Although JavaScript includes
an object system with some inheritance capabilities, they do not
constitute a full object-oriented programming model, so MathJax
implements its own object library. This means there is an ambiguity
when we speak of an “object”, as it could be either a native
JavaScript object, or a MathJax object. When the distinction is
important, we will use Object (capitalized) or MathJax.Object for
the latter; the javascript object will always be listed in lower
case.
You may also want to view the advanced topics on the main MathJax documentation page.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax variable¶
MathJax has a single global variable, MathJax, in which all its
data, and the data for loaded components, are stored. The MathJax
variable is a nested structure, with its top-level properties being
objects themselves.
Main MathJax Components¶
-
MathJax.Hub Contains the MathJax hub code and variables, including the startup code, the onload handler, the browser data, and so forth.
-
MathJax.Ajax Contains the code for loading external modules and creating stylesheets. Most of the code that causes MathJax to operate asynchronously is handled here.
-
MathJax.Message Contains the code to handle the intermittent message window that periodically appears in the lower left-hand corner of the window.
-
MathJax.HTML Contains support code for creating HTML elements dynamically from descriptions stored in JavaScript objects.
-
MathJax.CallBack Contains the code for managing MathJax callbacks, queues and signals.
-
MathJax.Extension Initially empty, this is where extensions can load their code. For example, the tex2jax preprocessor creates
MathJax.Extension.tex2jaxfor its code and variables.
-
MathJax.Menu Initially null, this is where the MathJax contextual menu is stored, when
extensions/MathMenu.jsis loaded.
-
MathJax.Object Contains the code for the MathJax object-oriented programming model.
-
MathJax.InputJax The base class for all input jax objects. Subclasses for specific input jax are created as sub-objects of
MathJax.InputJax. For example, the TeX input jax loads itself asMathJax.InputJax.TeX.
-
MathJax.OutputJax The base class for all output jax objects. Subclasses for specific output jax are created as sub-objects of
MathJax.OutputJax. For example, the HTML-CSS output jax loads itself asMathJax.OutputJax["HTML-CSS"].
-
MathJax.ElementJax The base class for all element jax objects. Subclasses for specific element jax are created as sub-objects of
MathJax.ElementJax. For example, the mml element jax loads itself asMathJax.ElementJax.mml.
Properties¶
-
MathJax.version The version number of the MathJax library as a whole.
-
MathJax.fileversion The version number of the
MathJax.jsfile specifically.
-
MathJax.isReady This is set to
truewhen MathJax is set up and ready to perform typesetting actions (and isnullotherwise).
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Hub Object¶
The MathJax Hub, MathJax.Hub, is the main control structure for
MathJax. It is where input and output jax are tied together,
and it is what handles processing of the MathJax <script> tags.
Processing of the mathematics on the page may require external files
to be loaded (when the mathematics includes less common functionality,
for example, that is defined in an extension file), and since file
loading is asynchronous, a number of the methods below may return
before their actions are completed. For this reason, they include
callback functions that are called when the action completes. These
can be used to synchronize actions that require the mathematics to be
completed before those actions occur. See the Using Callbacks documentation for more details.
Properties¶
-
config: { ... } This holds the configuration parameters for MathJax. Set these values using
MathJax.Hub.Config()described below. The options and their default values are given in the Core Options reference page.
-
processUpdateTime: 250 The minimum time (in milliseconds) between updates of the “Processing Math” message. After this amount of time has passed, and after the next equation has finished being processed, MathJax will stop processing momentarily so that the update message can be displayed, and so that the browser can handle user interaction.
-
processUpdateDelay: 10 The amount of time (in milliseconds) that MathJax pauses after issuing its processing message before starting the processing again (to give browsers time to handle user interaction).
-
signal The hub processing signal (tied to the
MathJax.Hub.Register.MessageHook()method).
-
queue MathJax’s main processing queue. Use
MathJax.Hub.Queue()to push callbacks onto this queue.
-
Browser The name of the browser as determined by MathJax. It will be one of
Firefox,Safari,Chrome,Opera,MSIE,Konqueror, orunkown. This is actually an object with additional properties and methods concerning the browser:-
version The browser version number, e.g.,
"4.0"
-
isMac and isPC These are boolean values that indicate whether the browser is running on a Macintosh computer or a Windows computer. They will both be
falsefor a Linux computer.
-
isMobile This is
truewhen MathJax is running a mobile version of a WebKit or Gecko-based browser.
-
isFirefox, isSafari, isChrome, isOpera, isMSIE, isKonqueror These are
truewhen the browser is the indicated one, andfalseotherwise.
-
versionAtLeast(version) This tests whether the browser version is at least that given in the version string. Note that you can not simply do a numeric comparison, as version 4.10 should be considered later than 4.9, for example. Similarly, 4.10 is different from 4.1, for instance.
-
Select(choices) This lets you perform browser-specific functions. Here, choices is an object whose properties are the names of the browsers and whose values are the functions to be performed. Each function is passed one parameter, which is the
MathJax.Hub.Browserobject. You do not need to include every browser as one of your choices — only those for which you need to do special processing. For example:MathJax.Hub.Browser.Select({ MSIE: function (browser) { if (browser.versionAtLeast("8.0")) {... do version 8 stuff ... } ... do general MSIE stuff ... }, Firefox: function (browser) { if (browser.isMac) {... do Mac stuff ... } ... do general Firefox stuff } });
-
-
inputJax An object storing the MIME types associated with the various registered input jax (these are the types of the
<script>tags that store the math to be processed by each input jax).
-
outputJax An object storing the output jax associate with the various element jax MIME types for the registered output jax.
Methods¶
-
Config(options)¶ Sets the configuration options (stored in
MathJax.Hub.config) to the values stored in the options object. See Configuring MathJax for details on how this is used and the options that you can set.Parameters: - options — object containing options to be set
Returns: null
-
Configured() When
delayStartupUntilis specified in the configuration file or in the script that loadsMathJax.js, MathJax’s startup sequence is delayed until this routine is called. See Configuring MathJax for details on how this is used.Returns: null
-
Register.PreProcessor(callback) Used by preprocessors to register themselves with MathJax so that they will be called during the
MathJax.Hub.PreProcess()action.Parameters: - callback — the callback specification for the preprocessor
Returns: null
-
Register.MessageHook(type,callback) Registers a listener for a particular message being sent to the hub processing signal (where PreProcessing, Processing, and New Math messages are sent). When the message equals the type, the callback will be called with the message as its parameter.
Parameters: - type — a string indicating the message to look for
- callback — a callback specification
Returns: null
-
Register.StartupHook(type,callback) Registers a listener for a particular message being sent to the startup signal (where initialization and component startup messages are sent). When the message equals the type, the callback will be called with the message as its parameter. See the Using Signals documentation for more details.
Parameters: - type — a string indicating the message to look for
- callback — a callback specification
Returns: null
-
Register.LoadHook(file,callback) Registers a callback to be called when a particular file is completely loaded and processed. (The callback is called when the file makes its
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete()call.) The file should be the complete file name, e.g.,"[MathJax]/config/default.js".Parameters: - file — the name of the file to wait for
- callback — a callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Queue(callback, ...) Pushes the given callbacks onto the main MathJax command queue. This synchronizes the commands with MathJax so that they will be performed in the proper order even when some run asynchronously. See Using Queues for more details about how to use queues, and the MathJax queue in particular. You may supply as many callback specifications in one call to the
Queue()method as you wish.Parameters: - callback — a callback specification
Returns: the callback object for the last callback added to the queue
-
Typeset([element[, callback]])¶ Calls the preprocessors on the given element (or elements if it is an array of elements), and then typesets any math elements within the element. If no element is provided, the whole document is processed. The element is either the DOM id of the element, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or refereneces. The callback is called when the process is complete. See the Modifying Math section for details of how to use this method properly.
Parameters: - element — the element(s) whose math is to be typeset
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
PreProcess([element[, callback]])¶ Calls the loaded preprocessors on the entire document, or on the given DOM element (or elements, if it is an array of elements). The element is either the DOM id of the element, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or references. The callback is called when the processing is complete.
Parameters: - element — the element to be preprocessed
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Process([element[, callback]])¶ Scans either the entire document or a given DOM element (or array of elements) for MathJax
<script>tags and processes the math those tags contain. The element is either the DOM id of the element to scan, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or references. The callback is called when the processing is complete.Parameters: - element — the element(s) to be processed
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Update([element[, callback]])¶ Scans either the entire document or a given DOM element (or elements if it is an array of elements) for mathematics that has changed since the last time it was processed, or is new, and typesets the mathematics they contain. The element is either the DOM id of the element to scan, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or references. The callback is called when the processing is complete.
Parameters: - element — the element(s) to be updated
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Reprocess([element[, callback]])¶ Removes any typeset mathematics from the document or DOM element (or elements if it is an array of elements), and then processes the mathematics again, re-typesetting everything. This may be necessary, for example, if the CSS styles have changed and those changes would affect the mathematics. Reprocess calls both the input and output jax to completely rebuild the data for mathematics. The element is either the DOM id of the element to scan, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or references. The callback is called when the processing is complete.
Parameters: - element — the element(s) to be reprocessed
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Rerender([element[, callback]])¶ Removes any typeset mathematics from the document or DOM element (or elements if it is an array of elements), and then renders the mathematics again, re-typesetting everything from the current internal version (without calling the input jax again). The element is either the DOM id of the element to scan, a reference to the DOM element itself, or an array of id’s or references. The callback is called when the processing is complete.
Parameters: - element — the element(s) to be reprocessed
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
getAllJax([element])¶ Returns a list of all the element jax in the document or a specific DOM element. The element is either the DOM id of the element, or a reference to the DOM element itself.
Parameters: - element — the element to be searched
Returns: array of element jax objects
-
getJaxByType(type[, element])¶ Returns a list of all the element jax of a given MIME-type in the document or a specific DOM element. The element is either the DOM id of the element to search, or a reference to the DOM element itself.
Parameters: - type — MIME-type of element jax to find
- element — the element to be searched
Returns: array of element jax objects
-
getJaxByInputType(type[, element])¶ Returns a list of all the element jax associated with input
<script>tags with the given MIME-type within the given DOM element or the whole document. The element is either the DOM id of the element to search, or a reference to the DOM element itself.Parameters: - type — MIME-type of input (e.g.,
"math/tex") - element — the element to be searched
Returns: array of element jax objects
- type — MIME-type of input (e.g.,
-
getJaxFor(element)¶ Returns the element jax associated with a given DOM element. If the element does not have an associated element jax,
nullis returned. The element is either the DOM id of the element, or a reference to the DOM element itself.Parameters: - element — the element whose element jax is required
Returns: element jax object or
null
-
isJax(element)¶ Returns
0if the element is not a<script>that can be processed by MathJax or the result of an output jax, returns-1if the element is an unprocessed<script>tag that could be handled by MathJax, and returns1if the element is a processed<script>tag or an element that is the result of an output jax.Parameters: - element — the element to inspect
Returns: integer (-1, 0, 1)
-
setRenderer(renderer[, type])¶ Sets the output jax for the given element jax
type(orjax/mmlif none is specified) to be the one given byrenderer, which must be the name of a renderer, such asNativeMMLorHTML-CSS. Note that this does not cause the math on the page to be rerendered; it just sets the renderer for output in the future (call :meth:Rerender()above to replace the current renderings by new ones).Parameters: - renderer — the name of the output jax to use for rendering
- type — the element jax MIME type whose renderer to set
Returns: null
-
Insert(dst, src)¶ Inserts data from the src object into the dst object. The key:value pairs in src are (recursively) copied into dst, so that if value is itself an object, its content is copied into the corresponding object in dst. That is, objects within src are merged into the corresponding objects in dst (they don’t replace them).
Parameters: - dst — the destination object
- src — the source object
Returns: the modified destination object
-
formatError(script, error)¶ This is called when an internal error occurs during the processing of a math element (i.e., an error in the MathJax code itself). The script is a reference to the
<script>tag where the error occurred, and error is theErrorobject for the error. The default action is to insert an HTML snippet at the location of the script, but this routine can be overriden during MathJax configuration in order to perform some other action.MathJax.Hub.lastErrorholds theerrorvalue of the last error on the page.Parameters: - script — the
<script>tag causing the error - error — the
Errorobject for the error
Returns: null- script — the
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Ajax Object¶
The MathJax.Ajax structure holds the data and functions for handling loading of external modules. Modules are loaded only once, even if called for in several places. The loading of files is asynchronous, and so the code that requests an external module will continue to run even when that module has not completed loading, so it is important to be aware of the timing issues this may cause. Similarly, creating or loading stylesheets is an asynchronous action. In particular, all actions that rely on the file or stylesheet having been loaded must be delayed until after the file has been downloaded completely. This is the reason for the large number of routines that take callback functions.
Any operation that could cause the loading of a file or stylesheet must be synchronized with the rest of the code via such callbacks. Since processing any mathematics might cause files to be loaded (e.g., little-used markup might be implemented in an extension that is loaded only when that markup is used), any code that dynamically typesets mathematics will need to be structured to use callbacks to guarantee that the mathematics has been completely processed before the code tries to use it. See the Synchronizing with MathJax documentation for details on how to do this properly.
Properties¶
-
timeout Number of milliseconds to wait for a file to load before it is considered to have failed to load.
Default: 15 seconds
-
STATUS.OK The value used to indicate that a file load has occurred successfully.
-
STATUS.ERROR The value used to indicate that a file load has caused an error or a timeout to occur.
-
loaded An object containing the names of the files that have been loaded (or requested) so far.
MathJax.Ajax.loaded["file"]will be non-nullwhen the file has been loaded, with the value being theMathJax.Ajax.STATUSvalue of the load attempt.
-
loading An object containing the files that are currently loading, the callbacks that are to be run when they load or timeout, and additional internal data.
-
loadHooks An object containing the load hooks for the various files, set up by the
LoadHook()method, or by theMathJax.Hub.Register.LoadHook()method.
Methods¶
-
Require(file[, callback])¶ Loads the given file if it hasn’t been already. The file must be a JavaScript file or a CSS stylesheet; i.e., it must end in
.jsor.css. Alternatively, it can be an object with a single key:value pair where the key is one ofjsorcssand the value is the file of that type to be loaded (this makes it possible to have the file be created by a CGI script, for example, or to use adata::URL). The file must be relative to the MathJax home directory and can not contain../file path components.When the file is completely loaded and run, the callback, if provided, will be executed passing it the status of the file load. If there was an error while loading the file, or if the file fails to load within the time limit given by
MathJax.Ajax.timout, the status will beMathJax.Ajax.STATUS.ERRORotherwise it will beMathJax.Ajax.STATUS.OK. If the file is already loaded, the callback will be called immediately and the file will not be loaded again.Parameters: - file — name of the file to be loaded
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Load(file[, callback])¶ Used internally to load a given file without checking if it already has been loaded, or where it is to be found.
Parameters: - file — name of the file to be loaded
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
loadComplete(file)¶ Called from within the loaded files to inform MathJax that the file has been completely loaded and initialized. The file parameter is the name of the file that has been loaded. This routine will cause any callback functions registered for the file or included in the
MathJax.Ajax.Require()calls to be executed, passing them the status of the load (MathJax.Ajax.STATUS.OKorMathJax.Ajax.STATUS.ERROR) as their last parameter.Parameters: - file — name of the file that has been loaded
Returns: null
-
loadTimeout(file)¶ Called when the timeout period is over and the file hasn’t loaded. This indicates an error condition, and the
MathJax.Ajax.loadError()method will be executed, then the file’s callback will be run withMathJax.Ajax.STATUS.ERRORas its parameter.Parameters: - file — name of the file that timed out
Returns: null
-
loadError(file)¶ The default error handler called when a file fails to load. It puts a warning message into the MathJax message box on screen.
Parameters: - file — the name of the file that failed to load
Returns: null
-
LoadHook(file, callback)¶ Registers a callback to be executed when the given file is loaded. The file load operation needs to be started when this method is called, so it can be used to register a hook for a file that may be loaded in the future.
Parameters: - file — the name of the file to wait for
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Preloading(file1[, file2...])¶ Used with combined configuration files to indicate what files are in the configuration file. Marks the files as loading (since there will never be an explicit
Load()orRequire()call for them), so that load-hooks and other load-related events can be properly processed when theloadComplete()occurs.Parameters: - file1, file2, … — the names of the files in the combined file
Returns: null
-
Styles(styles[, callback])¶ Creates a stylesheet from the given style data. styles can either be a string containing a stylesheet definition, or an object containing a CSS Style Object. For example:
MathJax.Ajax.Styles("body {font-family: serif; font-style: italic}");
and
MathJax.Ajax.Styles({ body: { "font-family": "serif", "font-style": "italic" } });
both set the body font family and style.
The callback routine is called when the stylesheet has been created and is available for use.
Parameters: - styles — CSS style object for the styles to set
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
Note
Internet Explorer has a limit of 32 dynamically created stylesheets, so it is best to combine your styles into one large group rather than making several smaller calls.
-
fileURL(file)¶ Returns a complete URL to a file (replacing
[MathJax]with the actual root URL location).Parameters: - file — the file name possibly including
[MathJax]
Returns: the full URL for the file
- file — the file name possibly including
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Message Object¶
The MathJax.Message object contains the methods used to manage the
small message area that appears at the lower-left corner of the
window. MathJax uses this area to inform the user of time-consuming
actions, like loading files and fonts, or how far along in the
typesetting process it is.
The page author can customize the look of the message window by
setting styles for the #MathJax_Message selector (which can be
set via
MathJax.Hub.Config({
styles: {
"#MathJax_Message": {
...
}
}
});
Because of a bug in Internet Explorer, in order to change the side of
the screen where the message occurs, you must also set the side
for #MathJax_MSIE_Frame, as in
MathJax.Hub.Config({
styles: {
"#MathJax_Message": {left: "", right: 0},
"#MathJax_MSIE_Frame": {left: "", right: 0}
}
});
It is possible that a message is already being displayed when another message needs to be posted. For this reason, when a message is displayed on screen, it gets an id number that is used when you want to remove or change that message. That way, when a message is removed, the previous message (if any) can be redisplayed if it hasn’t been removed. This allows for intermittent messages (like file loading messages) to obscure longer-term messages (like “Processing Math” messages) temporarily.
Methods¶
-
Set(message[, n[, delay]])¶ This sets the message being displayed to the given message string. If n is not
null, it represents a message id number and the text is set for that message id, otherwise a new id number is created for this message. If delay is provided, it is the time (in milliseconds) to display the message before it is cleared. If delay is not provided, the message will not be removed automatically; you must call theMathJax.Messsage.Clear()method by hand to remove it. If message is an array, then it represents a localizable string, as described in the Localization strings documentation.Parameters: - message — the text to display in the message area
- n — the message id number
- delay — amout of time to display the message
Returns: the message id number for this message.
-
Clear(n[, delay])¶ This causes the message with id n to be removed after the given delay, in milliseconds. The default delay is 600 milliseconds.
Parameters: - n — the message id number
- delay — the delay before removing the message
Returns: null
-
Remove()¶ This removes the message frame from the window (it will reappear when future messages are set, however).
Returns: null
-
File(file)¶ This sets the message area to a “Loading file” message, where file is the name of the file (with
[MathJax]representing the root directory).Parameters: - file — the name of the file being loaded
Returns: the message id number for the message created
-
filterText(text, n)¶ This method is called on each message before it is displayed. It can be used to modify (e.g., shorten) the various messages before they are displayed. The default action is to check if the
messageStyleconfiguration parameter issimple, and if so, convert loading and processing messages to a simpler form. This method can be overridden to perform other sanitization of the message strings.Parameters: - text — the text of the message to be posted
- n — the id number of the message to be posted
Returns: the modified message text
-
Log()¶ Returns a string of all the messages issued so far, separated by newlines. This is used in debugging MathJax operations.
Returns: string of all messages so far
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.HTML Object¶
The MathJax.HTML object provides routines for creating HTML
elements and adding them to the page, and in particular, it contains
the code that processes MathJax’s HTML snippets
and turns them into actual DOM objects. It also implements the
methods used to manage the cookies used by MathJax.
Properties¶
-
Cookie.prefix: "mjx" The prefix used for names of cookies stored by MathJax.
-
Cookie.expires: 365 The expiration time (in days) for cookies created by MathJax.
Methods¶
-
Element(type[, attributes[, contents]])¶ Creates a DOM element of the given type. If attributes is non-
null, it is an object that contains key:value pairs of attributes to set for the newly created element. If contents is non-null, it is an HTML snippet that describes the contents to create for the element. For examplevar div = MathJax.HTML.Element( "div", {id: "MathDiv", style:{border:"1px solid", padding:"5px"}}, ["Here is math: \\(x+1\\)",["br"],"and a display $$x+1\\over x-1$$"] );
Parameters: - type — node type to be created
- attributes — object specifying attributes to set
- contents — HTML snippet representing contents of node
Returns: the DOM element created
-
addElement(parent, type[, attributes[, content]])¶ Creates a DOM element and appends it to the parent node provided. It is equivalent to
parent.appendChild(MathJax.HTML.Element(type,attributes,content))
Parameters: - parent — the node where the element will be added
- attributes — object specifying attributes to set
- contents — HTML snippet representing contents of node
Returns: the DOM element created
-
TextNode(text)¶ Creates a DOM text node with the given text as its content.
Parameters: - text — the text for the node
Returns: the new text node
-
addText(parent, text)¶ Creates a DOM text node with the given text and appends it to the parent node.
Parameters: - parent — the node where the text will be added
- text — the text for the new node
Returns: the new text node
-
setScript(script, text)¶ Sets the contents of the
scriptelement to be the giventext, properly taking into account the browser limitations and bugs.Parameters: - script — the script whose content is to be set
- text — the text that is to be the script’s new content
Returns: null
-
getScript(script)¶ Gets the contents of the
scriptelement, properly taking into account the browser limitations and bugs.Parameters: - script — the script whose content is to be retrieved
Returns: the text of the
script
-
Cookie.Set(name,data) Creates a MathJax cookie using the
MathJax.HTML.Cookie.prefixand the name as the cookie name, and the key:value pairs in the data object as the data for the cookie. For example,MathJax.HTML.Cookie.Set("test",{x:42, y:"It Works!"});
will create a cookie named “mjx.test” that stores the values of
xandyprovided in the data object. This data can be retrieved using theMathJax.HTML.Cookie.Get()method discussed below.Parameters: - name — the name that identifies the cookie
- data — object containing the data to store in the cookie
Returns: null
-
Cookie.Get(name[,obj]) Looks up the data for the cookie named name and merges the data into the given obj object, or returns a new object containing the data. For instance, given the cookie stored by the example above,
var data = MathJax.HTML.Cookie.Get("test");
would set
datato{x:42, y:"It Works!"}, whilevar data = {x:10, z:"Safe"}; MathJax.HTML.Cookie.Get("test",data);
would leave
dataas{x:42, y:"It Works!", z:"Safe"}.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Callback Class¶
The MathJax.Callback object is one of the key mechanisms used by
MathJax to synchronize its actions with those that occur
asynchronously, like loading files and stylesheets. A Callback
object is used to tie the execution of a function to the completion of
an asynchronous action. See Synchronizing with MathJax for more details, and Using Callbacks in particular for examples of how to specify and
use MathJax Callback objects.
Specifying a callback¶
When a method includes a callback as one of its arguments, that callback can be specified in a number of different ways, depending on the functionality that is required of the callback. The easiest case is to simply provide a function to be called, but it is also possible to include data to pass to the function when it is executed, and even the object that will be used as the javascript this object when the function is called.
Most functions that take callbacks as arguments accept a callback
specification rather than an actual callback object, though you can
use the MathJax.Callback() function to convert a callback
specification into a Callback object if needed.
A callback specification is any one of the following:
fnA function that is to be called when the callback is executed. No additional data is passed to it (other than what it is called with at the time the callback is executed), and this will be the window object.
[fn]An array containing a function to be called when the callback is executed (as above).
[fn, data...]An array containing a function together with data to be passed to that function when the callback is executed; this is still the window object. For example,
[function (x,y) {return x+y}, 2, 3]would specify a callback that would pass
2and3to the given function, and it would return their sum,5, when the callback is executed.
[object, fn]An array containing an object to use as this and a function to call for the callback. For example,
[{x:'foo', y:'bar'}, function () {this.x}]would produce a callback that returns the string
"foo"when it is called.
[object, fn, data...]Similar to the previous case, but with data that is passed to the function as well.
["method", object]Here, object is an object that has a method called method, and the callback will execute that method (with the object as this) when it is called. For example,
["toString",[1,2,3,4]]would call the toString method on the array
[1,2,3,4]when the callback is called, returning1,2,3,4.
["method", object, data...]Similar to the previous case, but with data that is passed to the method. E.g.,
["slice",[1,2,3,4],1,3]would perform the equivalent of
[1,2,3,4].slice(1,3), which returns the array[2,3]as a result.
{hook: fn, data: [...], object: this}Here the data for the callback are given in an associative array of key:value pairs. The value of hook is the function to call, the value of data is an array of the arguments to pass to the function, and the value of object is the object to use as this in the function call. The specification need not include all three key:value pairs; any that are missing get default values (a function that does nothing, an empty array, and the window object, respectively).
"string"This specifies a callback where the string is executed via an
eval()statement. The code is run in the global context, so any variables or functions created by the string become part of the global namespace. The return value is the value of the last statement executed in the string.
Executing a Callback Object¶
The Callback object is itself a function, and calling that function executes the callback. You can pass the callback additional parameters, just as you can any function, and these will be added to the callback function’s argument list following any data that was supplied at the time the callback was created. For example
var f = function (x,y) {return x + " and " +y}
var cb = MathJax.Callback([f, "foo"]);
var result = cb("bar"); // sets result to "foo and bar"
Usually, the callback is not executed by the code that creates it (as it is in the example above), but by some other code that runs at a later time at the completion of some other activity (say the loading of a file), or in response to a user action. For example:
function f(x) {alert("x contains "+x)};
function DelayedX(time) {
var x = "hi";
setTimeout(MathJax.Callback([f, x], time));
}
The DelayedX function arranges for the function f to be called at
a later time, passing it the value of a local variable, x. Normally,
this would require the use of a closure, but that is not needed when a
MathJax.Callback object is used.
Callback Object Properties¶
-
hook The function to be called when the callback is executed.
-
data An array containing the arguments to pass to the callback function when it is executed.
-
object The object to use as this during the call to the callback function.
-
called Set to
trueafter the callback has been called, and undefined otherwise. A callback will not be executed a second time unless the callback’sreset()method is called first, or itsautoResetproperty is set totrue.
-
autoReset Set this to
trueif you want to be able to call the callback more than once. (This is the case for signal listeners, for example).
-
isCallback Always set to
true(used to detect if an object is a callback or not).
MathJax.Callback Methods¶
-
Delay(time[, callback])¶ Waits for the specified time (given in milliseconds) and then performs the callback. It returns the Callback object (or a blank one if none was supplied). The returned callback structure has a timeout property set to the result of the
setTimeout()call that was used to perform the wait so that you can cancel the wait, if needed. ThusMathJax.Callback.Delay()can be used to start a timeout delay that executes the callback if an action doesn’t occur within the given time (and if the action does occur, the timeout can be canceled). SinceMathJax.Callback.Delay()returns a callback structure, it can be used in a callback queue to insert a delay between queued commands.Parameters: - time — the amount of time to wait
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Queue([callback, ...])¶ Creates a MathJax.CallBack.Queue object and pushes the given callbacks into the queue. See Using Queues for more details about MathJax queues.
Parameters: - callback — one or more callback specifications
Returns: the Queue object
-
Signal(name)¶ Looks for a named signal, creates it if it doesn’t already exist, and returns the signal object. See Using Signals for more details.
Parameters: - name — name of the signal to get or create
Returns: the Signal object
-
ExecuteHooks(hooks[, data[, reset]])¶ Calls each callback in the hooks array (or the single hook if it is not an array), passing it the arguments stored in the data array. If reset is
true, then the callback’sreset()method will be called before each hook is executed. If any of the hooks returns a Callback object, then it collects those callbacks and returns a new callback that will execute when all the ones returned by the hooks have been completed. Otherwise,MathJax.Callback.ExecuteHooks()returnsnull.Parameters: - hooks — array of hooks to be called, or a hook
- data — array of arguments to pass to each hook in turn
- reset —
trueif thereset()method should be called
Returns: callback that waits for all the hooks to complete, or
null
-
Hooks(reset)¶ Creates a prioritized list of hooks that are called in order based on their priority (low priority numbers are handled first). This is meant to replace
MathJax.Callback.ExecuteHooks()and is used internally for signal callbacks, pre- and post-filters, and other lists of callbacks.Parameters: - reset —
trueif callbacks can be called more than once
Returns: the Hooks object
The list has the following methods:
-
Add(hook[, priority])¶ Add a callback to the prioritized list. If
priorityis not provided, the default is 10. Thehookis a Callback specification as described above.Parameters: - hook — callback specification to add to the list
- priority — priority of the hook in the list (default: 10)
Returns: the callback object being added
-
Remove(hook) Remove a given hook (as returned from
Add()above) from the prioritized list.Parameters: - hook — the callback to be removed
Returns: null
-
Execute()¶ Execute the list of callbacks, resetting them if requested. If any of the hooks return callbacks, then
Execute()returns a callback that will be executed when they all have completed.Returns: a callback object or null
- reset —
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Callback.Queue Class¶
The MathJax.Callback.Queue object is one of the key mechanisms
used by MathJax to synchronize its actions with those that occur
asynchronously, like loading files and stylesheets. A Queue object
is used to coordinate a sequence of actions so that they are performed
one after another, even when one action has to wait for an
asynchronous process to complete. This guarantees that operations are
performed in the right order even when the code must wait for some
other action to occur. See Synchronizing with MathJax for more details, and Using Queues in particular for examples of how to specify and use
MathJax Queue objects.
Properties¶
-
pending This is non-zero when the queue is waiting for a command to complete, i.e. a command being processed returns a Callback object, indicating that the queue should wait for that action to complete before processing additional commands.
-
running This is non-zero when the queue is executing one of the commands in the queue.
-
queue An array containing the queued commands that are yet to be performed.
Methods¶
-
Push(callback, ...)¶ Adds commands to the queue and runs them (if the queue is not pending or running another command). If one of the callbacks is an actual Callback object rather than a callback specification, then the command queued is an internal command to wait for the given callback to complete. That is, that callback is not itself queued to be executed, but a wait for that callback is queued. The
Push()method returns the last callback that was added to the queue (so that it can be used for further synchronization, say as an entry in some other queue).Parameters: - callback — the callback specifications to be added to the queue
Returns: the last callback object added to the queue
-
Process() Process the commands in the queue, provided the queue is not waiting for another command to complete. This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.
-
Suspend()¶ Increments the running property, indicating that any commands that are added to the queue should not be executed immediately, but should be queued for later execution (when its
Resume()is called). This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.
-
Resume()¶ Decrements the running property, if it is positive. When it is zero, commands can be processed, but that is not done automatically — you would need to call
Process()to make that happen. This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.
-
wait(callback)¶ Used internally when an entry in the queue is a Callback object rather than a callback specification. A callback to this function (passing it the original callback) is queued instead, and it simply returns the callback it was passed. Since the queue will wait for a callback if it is the return value of one of the commands it executes, this effectively makes the queue wait for the original callback at that point in the command queue.
Parameters: - callback — the function to complete before returning to the queue
Returns: the passed callback function
-
call()¶ An internal function used to restart processing of the queue after it has been waiting for a command to complete.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Callback.Signal Class¶
The MathJax.Callback.Signal object is one of the key mechanisms
used by MathJax to synchronize its actions with those that occur
asynchronously, like loading files and stylesheets. A Signal object
is used to publicize the fact that MathJax has performed certain
actions, giving other code running the web page the chance to react to
those actions. See Synchronizing with MathJax for more details, and Using Signals in particular for examples of how to specify and use
MathJax Signal objects.
The Callback Signal object is a subclass of the Callback Queue object.
Properties¶
-
name The name of the signal. Each signal is named so that various components can access it. The first one to request a particular signal causes it to be created, and other requests for the signal return references to the same object.
-
posted Array used internally to store the post history so that when new listeners express interests in this signal, they can be informed of the signals that have been posted so far. This can be cleared using the signal’s
Clear()method.
-
listeners Array of callbacks to the listeners who have expressed interest in hearing about posts to this signal. When a post occurs, the listeners are called, each in turn, passing them the message that was posted.
Methods¶
-
Post(message[, callback])¶ Posts a message to all the listeners for the signal. The listener callbacks are called in turn (with the message as an argument), and if any return a Callback object, the posting will be suspended until the callback is executed. In this way, the
Post()call can operate asynchronously, and so the callback parameter is used to synchronize with its operation; the callback will be called when all the listeners have responded to the post.If a
Post()to this signal occurs while waiting for the response from a listener (either because a listener returned a Callback object and we are waiting for it to complete when thePost()occurred, or because the listener itself called thePost()method), the new message will be queued and will be posted after the current message has been sent to all the listeners, and they have all responded. This is another way in which posting can be asynchronous; the only sure way to know that a posting has occurred is through its callback. When the posting is complete, the callback is called, passing it the signal object that has just completed.Returns the callback object (or a blank callback object if none was provided).
Parameters: - message — the message to send through the signal
- callback — called after the message is posted
Returns: the callback or a blank callback
-
Clear([callback]) This causes the history of past messages to be cleared so new listeners will not receive them. Note that since the signal may be operating asynchronously, the
Clear()may be queued for later. In this way, thePost()andClear()operations will be performed in the proper order even when they are delayed. The callback is called when theClear()operation is completed.Returns the callback (or a blank callback if none is provided).
Parameters: - callback — called after the signal history is cleared
Returns: the callback or a blank callback
-
Interest(callback[, ignorePast])¶ This method registers a new listener on the signal. It creates a Callback object from the callback specification, attaches it to the signal, and returns that Callback object. When new messages are posted to the signal, it runs the callback, passing it the message that was posted. If the callback itself returns a Callback object, that indicates that the listener has started an asynchronous operation and the poster should wait for that callback to complete before allowing new posts on the signal.
If ignorePast is
falseor not present, then beforeInterest()returns, the callback will be called with all the past messages that have been sent to the signal.Parameters: - callback — called whenever a message is posted (past or present)
- ignorePast —
truemeans ignore previous messages
Returns: the callback object
-
NoInterest(callback)¶ This removes a listener from the signal so that no new messages will be sent to it. The callback should be the one returned by the original
Interest()call that attached the listener to the signal in the first place. Once removed, the listener will no longer receive messages from the signal.Parameters: - callback — the listener to be removed from signal
Returns: null
-
MessageHook(message, callback)¶ This creates a callback that is called whenever the signal posts the given message. This is a little easier than having to write a function that must check the message each time it is called. Although the message here is a string, if a message posted to the signal is an array, then only the first element of that array is used to match against the message. That way, if a message contains an identifier plus arguments, the hook will match the identifier and still get called with the complete set of arguments.
Returns the Callback object that was produced.
Parameters: - message — the message to look for from the signal
- callback — called when the message is posted
Returns: the callback object
-
ExecuteHook(message)¶ Used internally to call the listeners when a particular message is posted to the signal.
Parameters: - message — the posted message
Returns: null
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.Localization Class¶
Beginning in version 2.2 of MathJax, all of MathJax’s messages, menus, dialog boxes, and so are are localizable (meaning they can be presented in languages other than English). This is accomplished through the MathJax.Localization object. This object stores the data about the available languages, and the selected language, together with the routines needed to obtain the translated strings for the messages used by MathJax, and the ones used to register translations with the system.
Localizable strings in MathJax are identified by a unique ID (a character string used to obtain the translation), and MathJax has functions that obtain the translated message associated with the ID. Some messages need values inserted into them (like file names, or TeX macro names), and MathJax can insert those values into the translated string automatically. The localization system has support for plural and number forms, which differ from language to language. These issues are described in more detail in the Localization Strings documentation.
A number of MathJax’s messaging functions handle localization of their
messages automatically. For example, the MathJax.Message.Set()
function and the TeX input jax’s Error() function both will look
up localization strings automatically.
Because the localization data needs to be downloaded over the network, MathJax only loads this data when it is actually needed (many users will only see mathematical expressions and will never need an actual translated message string, so there is no need to waste time downloading the localization data for them). Since MathJax loads files asynchonously, there is a synchronization issue that you need to be aware of when using localized message strings. There are support routines to help make this easier (these are described in more detail below).
Finally, MathJax consists of a number of relatively separate components, and can be extended by third-party plug-ins, it is possible that there would be name collisions with the ID’s used to identify localizable strings. To make it easier to manage the string ID’s, and to break up the localization data into smaller chunks that can be loaded quickly when needed, MathJax breaks up the messages into domains, each with its own set of ID’s for the messages in that domain. Typically, a component (like the math menu, or the TeX input jax) has its own domain, so it can keep its message ID’s separate from other components.
Getting a Translated String¶
The basic means of obtaining the string to use for a message to display to the user is to call the _() method of the MathJax.Localization object, passing the string id and the English phrase. For example,
MathJax.Localization._("TC","Typsetting Complete");
would return the string for “Typesettings Complete” in the currently selected language. This can be facilitated by defining the function
var _ = function () {return MathJax.Localization._.apply(MathJax.Localization,arguments)}
so that you only need to use
_("TC","Typesetting Complete");
to obtain the translated string.
Both these examples take the translation from the default domain (the
_ domain), but most components will want to use their own
domain. For example, the TeX input jax uses the TeX domain. To
request a translation from a specific domain, replace the ID with an
array consisting of the domain and ID. For example
MathJax.Localization._(["TeX","MissingBrace"],"Missing Close Brace");
would get the string associated with the ID MissingBrace from the
TeX domain in the current language. To make this easier, the TeX
input jax could define
var _ = function (id) {
return MathJax.Localization._.apply(MathJax.Localization,
[["TeX",id]].concat([].slice.call(arguments,1)));
};
which appends the TeX domain automatically. With this definition,
you could use the simpler form
_("MissingBrace","Missing Close Brace");
to get the MissingBrace message from the TeX domain.
Parameter Substitution¶
Some messages may want to include values (like file names, or TeX
macro names) as part of their strings. The MathJax localization
system provides a means of including such values in the translated
strings. In addition to the ID and message strings, you pass the
values that need to be substituted into the message, and use the
special sequences %1, %2, etc. to indicate where they go
within the message. For example
MathJax.Localization._("NotFound","File %1 not found",filename)
would obtain the translation for “File %1 not found” and insert the filename at the location of %1 in the translated string.
There are also mechanisms of handling plural forms (which differ from language to language) and number forms. See the Localization Strings documentation for complete details.
HTML Snippets¶
MathJax allows you to encode HTML snippets using javascript data (see
the HTML snippets documentation for details),
and these often contain textual data that needs to be localized. You
can pass HTML snippets to the _() function and a domain in which
the strings are to be looked up. You then use a localization string
(an array consisting of the ID and string, plus optional parameters to
be substituted into the string) in place of a normal string in the
HTML snippet. For example,
[
"Follow this link: ",
["a",{href:"http://www.mathjax.org"},[
["img",{src:"external.gif"}]
]]
]
could be localized as
MathJax.Localization._("myDomain",[
["FollowLink","Follow this link"],": ",
["a",{href:"http://www.mathjax.org"},[
["img",{src:"external.gif"}]
]]
])
where the FollowLink ID is looked up in the myDomain domain of
the current language.
See the HTML snippets section of the Localization Strings documentation for complete details.
Synchronization Issues¶
Because the translation data are stored in files that are loaded only
when they are needed, and since file loading in MathJax is
asynchronous, you need to take this loading process into account when
you use _() to obtain a localized string. If this is the first
string obtained from the language, or the first one from the requested
domain, MathJax may have to load the data file or that language or
domain (or both). In that case, you need to be prepared to wait for
that file to load and retry obtaining the translation string.
The localization system provides you with two functions to make this
easier, but you do have to keep in mind that obtaining translation
strings may be an asynchronous action.
The first method is MathJax.Localization.loadDomain(), which takes a
domain name and an optional callback, and forces MathJax to load the
language data for that domain (and the main language data file, if
needed), then calls the callback. In this way, the callback function
knows that the localization data that it needs will be available, and
it doesn’t have to worry about the possibility that _() will start
a file loading operation. The loadDomain() function returns the
callback object, which can be used in callback queues, for example, to
coordinate further actions.
For example, suppose you want to perform the check
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
alert("Your url must use the http protocol");
url = null;
}
and want to localize the error message. The naive approach would be
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
alert(_("BadProtocol","Your url must use the http protocol"));
url = null;
}
(provided you have defined _() for your domain as described
above). The problem is that _() might need to load the language
data for your message, and that causes _() to throw a restart
error. That would cause an error message to appear on the javascript
console, and your alert would never occur. Instead, you want to make
sure that the localization data are available before calling _().
Suppose the domain for your message ID is myDomain, then one way
to do this would be
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
MathJax.Localization.loadDomain("myDomain",function () {
alert(_("BadProtocol","Your url must use the http or https protocol"));
});
url = null;
}
This uses loadDomain to force the myDomain data to be loaded
before attemptin the _() call, so you are sure the call will
succeed. If several localized string are needed, you may want to use
loadDomain around the entire function:
MathJax.Localization.loadDomain("myDomain",function () {
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
alert(_("BadProtocol","Your url must use the http or https protocol"));
url = null;
}
if (url && !url.match(/\.js$/)) {
alert(_("BadType","Your url should refer to a javascript file"));
}
});
It is also possible to use loadDomain() as part of a callback
queue:
MathJax.Callback.Queue(
MathJax.Localization.loadDomain("myDomain"),
function () {
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
alert(_("BadProtocol","Your url must use the http or https protocol"));
url = null;
}
}
);
Here the function will not be performed until after the myDomain
domain is loaded.
The second tool for synchronizing with the localization system is the
MathJax.Localization.Try() function. This method takes a callback
specification (for example, a function, though it could be any valid
callback data) and runs the callback with error trapping. If the
callback throws a restart error (due to loading a localization data
file), Try() will wait for that file to load, then rerun the
callback (and will continue to do so if there are additional file
loads).
Using this approach, you don’t have to worry about loading the domains
explicitly, as _() will throw a restart error when one is needed,
and Try() will catch it and restart after the load. For example,
MathJax.Localization.Try(function () {
if (!url.match(/^https?:/)) {
alert(_("BadProtocol","Your url must use the http or https protocol"));
url = null;
}
});
Note that, as with loadDomain(), Try() may return before the
callback has been run successfully, so you should consider this to be
an asynchronous function. You can use callbacks to synchronize with
other actions, if needed.
Also note that your function may be called multiple times before it
succeeds (if localization data needs to be loaded). So you need to
write the function in such a way that it doesn’t matter if it gets
partway through and fails. For example, you might not want to create
structures or modify values that affect what happens if the function
has to be rerun from the beginning when one of its _() causes a
file load.
A number of functions in MathJax are able to accept localization
strings as their inputs, and these already take care of the
synchronization issues for you. For example,
MathJax.Message.Set() can accept either a plain (untranslated)
string, or a localization string (array with ID, string, and
substitution parameters). It uses Try() internally to make sure
your message is properly translated before posting it to the screen.
That means you don’t have to worry about that yourself when you use
MathJax.Message.Set(), though you shoud be aware that the posting
of the message may be asynchronous, so the message might not be
visible when Set() returns. Fortunately,
MathJax.Message.Clear() coordinates with Set() so that even if
you call Clear() before the original message posts, MathJax won’t
get confused). Similarly, the TeX input jax’s Error() function
handles the calling of _() and its synchronization for you.
The Localization Data¶
The MathJax.Localization object holds the data for the various
translations, as well as the service routines for adding to the
translations and retrieving translations.
Methods¶
The methods in MathJax.Localization include:
-
_(id, message[, arguments])¶ The function (described in detail above) that returns the translated string for a given id, substituting the given arguments as needed.
Parameters: - id — the ID of the message to translate, or an array
[domain,ID] - message — the English phrase to use as fallback if there is no translation, or an HTML snippet to be localized
- arguments — values to be inserted into the translated string
Returns: the translated string or HTML snippet
- id — the ID of the message to translate, or an array
-
setLocale(locale)¶ Sets the selected locale to the given one, e.g.
MathJax.Localization.setLocale("fr");
Parameters: - locale — the two-character identifier for the desired locale
Returns: null
-
addTranslation(locale, domain, def)¶ Defines (or adds to) the translation data for the given locale and domain. The def is the definition to be merged with the current translation data (if it exists) or to be used as the complete definition (if not). The data format is described below.
Parameters: - locale — the two-letter identifier for the locale to update or create
- domain — the name of the domain to add or modify
- def — the definition of the domain (see below)
Returns: null
-
setCSS(div)¶ Sets the CSS for the given div to reflect the needs of the locale. In particular, it sets the font-family, if needed, and the direction (for right-to-left languages).
Parameters: - div — the DOM element whose CSS is to be modified
Returns: the div
-
fontFamily()¶ Get the
font-familyneeded to display text in the selected language. Returnsnullif no special font is required.
-
fontDirection()¶ Get the
directionneeded to display text in the selected language. Returnsnullif no special font is required.
-
plural(n)¶ The method that returns the index into the list of plural texts for the value n. See the [CLDR rules](http://unicode.org/cldr/charts/supplemental/language_plural_rules.html) for more information. This calls the locale’s
plural()method, if there is one, otherwise it defaults to the English version.
-
number(n)¶ The method that returns the localized version of the number n. This calls the locale’s
number()method, if there is one, otherwise it defaults to the English version.
-
loadDomain(domain[, callback])¶ This causes MathJax to load the data file for the given domain in the current language, and calls the callback when that is complete. If the domain is already loaded, the callback is called immediately. This lets you synchronize actions that require localization with the loading of the needed data so that you are sure that the needed translations are available. See the section on synchonization above for details.
Parameters: - domain — the name of the domain to load
- callback — the callback object to be run after loading
Returns: the callback object (or a blank one if none specified)
-
Try(fn)¶ This method runs the function fn with error trapping and if an asynchronous file load is performed (for loading localizaton data), reruns the function again after the file loads. This lets you synchronize actions that require localization with the loading of the needed data (see the section on synchronization above for details). Note that the function should be one that can be run multiple times, if needed. Also note that
Try()can return before the fn has been completed, so you should consider fn to be running asynchronously (you can use callbacks to synchronize with other actions, if needed).Parameters: - fn — a callback specification for a function that uses localization data
Returns: null
Properties¶
-
locale The currently selected locale, e.g.,
"fr". This is set by thesetLocale()method, and should not be modified by hand.
-
directory The URL for the localization data files. This can be overridden for individual languages or domains (see below). The default is
[MathJax]/localization.
-
strings This is the main data structure that holds the translation strings. It consists of an entry for each language that MathJax knows about, e.g., there would be an entry with key
frwhose value is the data for the French translation. Initially, these simply reference the files that define the translation data, which MathJax will load when needed. After the file is loaded, they will contain the translation data as well. This is described in more detail below.
Translation Data¶
Each language has its own data in the MathJax.Localization.strings structure. This structure holds data about the translation, plus the translated strings for each domain.
A typical example might be
fr: {
menuTitle: "Fran\u00E7ais", // title used in language menu
version: "1.0",
directory: "[MathJax]/localization/fr", // optional
file: "fr.js", // optional (file contains the data below)
isLoaded: true, // set when loaded
fontFamily: "...", // optional
plural: function (n) {...}, // optional implementation of plural forms
number: function (n) {...}, // optional implementation of number forms
domains: {
"_": {
version: "1.0",
file: "http://somecompany.com/MathJax/localization/fr/hub.js", // optional (contains the rest of the data)
isLoaded: true,
strings: {
fnf: "File '%1' not found",
fl: "%1 %{plural:%1|file|files|} loaded",
...
}
},
TeX: {
...
},
MathMenu: {
...
}
...
}
}
The fields have the following meanings:
-
menuTitle The string used for the menu item in the language submenu (it should be in the language itself, not English).
-
version The version of the translation data.
-
directory An optional value that can be used to override the directory where the translation files for this language are stored. The default is to add the locale identifier to the end of
MathJax.Localization.directory, so the value given in the example above is the default value, and could be omitted.
-
file The name of the file containing the translation data for this language. The default is the locale identifier with
.jsappended, so the value given in the example above is the default value, and could be omitted.
-
isLoaded This is set to
truewhen MathJax has loaded the data for this language. Typically, when a language is registered with MathJax, the data file isn’t loaded at that point. It will be loaded when it is first needed, and when that happens, this value is set.
-
fontFamily This is a CSS font-family (or list of font-families) that should be used when text in this language is displayed. If not present, then no special font is needed.
-
fontDirection This is a string
ltrorrtlthat specifies if the language is left-to-right or right-to-left. If not present,ltrwill be assumed.
-
plural(n) This is an optional function that returns the index into the list of plural values apropriate for the given integer n. If not provided, the English
plural()function is used.
-
plural(n) This is an optional function that returns the index into the list of plural values apropriate for the given integer n. If not provided, the English
plural()function is used.
-
number(n) This is an optional function that returns the a string representing the decimal number n in the format used by the given locale. If not provided, the English
number()function is used.
-
domains This is an object that contains the translation strings for this language, grouped by domain. Each domain has an entry, and its value is an object that contains the translation strings for that domain. The format is described in more detail below.
Domain Data¶
Each domain for which there are translations has an entry in the locale’s domains object. These store the following information:
-
version The version of the data for this domain.
-
file If the domain data is stored in a separate file from the rest of the language’s data (e.g., a third-party extension that is not stored on a cdn may have translation data that is provied by the thrid-party), this property tells where to obtain the translation data. In the example above, the data is provided by another company via a complete URL. The default value is the locale’s directory with the domain name appended and .js appended to that.
-
isLoaded This is set to
truewhen the data file has been loaded.
-
strings This is an object that contains that actual translated strings. The keys are the message identifiers described in the overview section above, and the values are the translations
Registering a Translation¶
Typically, for languages stored on a cdn, MathJax will register the language with a call like
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("fr",null,{});
which will create an fr entry in the localization data that will
be tied to the [MathJax]/localization/fr directory, and the
[MathJax]/localization/fr/fr.js file. That directory could contain
individual files for the various domains, or the fr.js file itself
could contain combined data that includes the most common domains,
leaving only the lesser-used domains in separate files.
An example fr.js file could be
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("fr",null,{
menuTitle: "Fran\u00E7ais",
version: "1.0",
domains: {
"_": {},
TeX: {},
MathMenu: {}
}
});
This would declare that there are translation files for the _,
TeX, and MathMenu domains, and that these will be loaded
individually from their default file names in the default directory of
[MathJax]/localization/fr. Other domains will not be translated
unless they register themselves via a command like
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("fr","HelpDialog",{});
in which case the domain’s data file will be loaded automatically when needed.
One could preload translation strings by including them in the fr.js
file:
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("fr",null,{
menuTitle: "Fran\u00E7ais",
version: "1.0",
domains: {
"_": {
isLoaded: true,
strings: {
'NotFound': "Fichier `%1` non trouvé",
...
}
},
TeX: {
isLoaded: true,
strings: {
'MissingBrace': "Accolade de fermeture manquante",
...
}
},
MathMenu: {}
}
});
Here the _ and TeX strings are preloaded, while the MathMenu strings will
be loaded on demand.
A third party extension could include
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("fr","myExtension",{
file: "http://myserver.com/MathJax/localization/myExtension/fr.js"
});
to add French translations for the myExtension domain (used by the
extension) so that they would be obtained from the third-party server
when needed.
A third party could provide a translation for a language not covered by a cdn by using
MathJax.Localization.addTranslation("kr",null,{
menuTitle: "\uD55C\uAD6D\uB9D0",
fontFamily: "Butang, 'Arial unicode MS', AppleMayungjo",
directory: "http://mycompany.com/MathJax/localization/kr"
});
and providing a kr.js file in their MathJax/localization/kr
directory that defines the details of their translation. If the
Korean (kr) locale is selected, MathJax will load
http://mycompany.com/MathJax/localization/kr/kr.js and any other
domain files when they are needed.
See the subdirectories in the MathJax/localization directory for
examples of language files. The English directory (en) is not
actually used by MathJax (because the English strings a built in), but
it can serve as an example and starting point for producing your own
translations.
The Translation Files¶
Version 2.2 of MathJax comes with translations for French and German. Additional languages will be made available as they are developed. We hope to use community-based websites like Transifex to help produce these translations. Currently, however, the language data files are not in a form that can be used by these sites, so the only way to generate new translations is to copy the English data files and modify them for the new language.
In the future, MathJax will provide conversion programs that create the files needed for such sites in the formats they require (e.g., YAML), and that convert the translated versions back into the data files needed by MathJax, but these programs are not yet ready.
In addition, there will be a program that scans the MathJax files to obtain the ID’s and English strings that are needed for the translation files. This will make maintenance of language files easier in the future, but these are not available yet.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.InputJax Class¶
Input jax are the components of MathJax that translate mathematics from its original format (like TeX or MathML) to the MathJax internal format (an element jax).
An input jax is stored as a pair of files in a subdirectory of the
jax/input directory, with the subdirectory name being the name of
the input jax. For example, the TeX input jax is stored in
jax/input/TeX. The first file, config.js, is loaded when
MathJax is being loaded and configured, and is indicated by listing
the input jax directory in the jax array of the MathJax
configuration. The config.js file creates a subclass of the
MathJax.InputJax object for the new input jax and registers that
with MathJax, along with the MIME-type that will be used to indicate
the mathematics that is to be processed by the input jax.
The main body of the input jax is stored in the second file,
jax.js, which is loaded when the input jax is first called on to
translate some mathematics. This file augments the original input jax
subclass with the additional methods needed to do the translation.
MathJax calls the input jax’s Translate() method when it needs
the input jax to translate the contents of a math <script> tag.
The MathJax.InputJax class is a subclass of the MathJax Jax class, and inherits the properties and methods of that class. Those listed below are the additional or overridden ones from that class.
Properties¶
-
id The name of the jax.
-
version The version number of the jax.
-
directory The directory where the jax files are stored (e.g.,
"[MathJax]/jax/input/TeX").
-
elementJax The name of the ElementJax class that this input jax will produce (typically
mml, as that is the only ElementJax at the moment).
Methods¶
-
Process(script, state) This is the method that the
MathJax.Hubcalls when it needs the input jax to process the given math<script>. Its default action is to do the following:- Start loading any element jax specified in the
elementJaxarray; - Start loading the jax’s
jax.jsfile; - Start loading the required output jax (so it is ready when needed); and
- Redefine itself to simply return the callback for the load operation (so that further calls to it will cause the processing to wait for the callback).
Once the
jax.jsfile has loaded, this method is replaced by the jax’sTranslate()method (see below), so that subsequent calls toProcess()will perform the appropriate translation.Parameters: - script — reference to the DOM
<script>object for the mathematics to be translated - state — a structure containing information about the current proccessing state of the mathematics (internal use)
Returns: an ElementJax object, or
null- Start loading any element jax specified in the
-
Translate(script, state) This is the main routine called by MathJax when a
<script>of the appropriate type is found. The defaultTranslate()method throws an error indicating thatTranslate()hasn’t been defined, so when thejax.jsfile loads, it should override the defaultTranslate()with its own version that does the actual translation.The translation process should include the creation of an Element Jax that stores the data needed for this element.
Parameters: - script — the
<script>element to be translated - state — a structure containing information about the current proccessing state of the mathematics (internal use)
Returns: the element jax resulting from the translation
- script — the
-
Register(mimetype) This registers the MIME-type associated with this input jax so that MathJax knows to call this input jax when it sees a
<script>of that type. An input jax can register more than one type, but it will be responsible for distinguishing elements of the various types from one another.Parameters: - mimetype — the MIME-type of the input this jax processes
Returns: null
-
needsUpdate(jax) This implements the element jax’s
needsUpdate()method, and returnstrueif thejaxneeds to be rerendered (i.e., the text has changed), andfalseotherwise.Perameters: - jax — the element jax to be checked
Returns: trueif the jax’s text has changed,falseotherwise
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.OutputJax Class¶
Output jax are the components of MathJax that translate mathematics from the MathJax internal format (an element jax) to whatever output is required to represent the mathematics (e.g., MathML elements, or HTML-with-CSS that formats the mathematics on screen).
An output jax is stored as a pair of files in a subdirectory of the
the jax/output directory, with the subdirectory name being the
name of the output jax. For example, the NativeMML output jax is
stored in jax/output/NativeMML. The first file, config.js, is
loaded when MathJax is being loaded and configured, and is indicated
by listing the input jax directory in the jax array of the MathJax
configuration. The config.js file creates a subclass of the
MathJax.OutputJax object for the new output jax and registers it
with MathJax, along with the MIME-type of the element jax that it can
process.
The main body of the output jax is stored in the second file, jax.js,
which is loaded when the output jax is first called on to translate
some mathematics. This file augments the original output jax
subclass with the additional methods needed to produce the output.
MathJax calls the input jax’s Translate() method when it needs
the output jax to translate an element jax to produce output.
The MathJax.OutputJax class is a subclass of the MathJax Jax class, and inherits the properties and methods of that class. Those listed below are the additional or overridden ones from that class.
Properties¶
-
id The name of the jax.
-
version The version number of the jax.
-
directory The directory where the jax files are stored (e.g.,
"[MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS");
-
fontDir The directory where the fonts are stored (e.g.,
"[MathJax]/fonts")
-
imageDir The directory where MathJax images are found (e.g.
"[MathJax]/images")
Methods¶
-
preProcess(state)¶ This is called by
MathJax.Hubto ask the output processor to prepare to process math scripts. Its default action is to start loading the jax’sjax.jsfile, and redefine itself to simply return the callback for the load operation (so that further calls to it will cause the processing to wait for the callback).Once the
jax.jsfile has loaded, this method is replaced by the jax’spreTranslate()method, so that subsequent calls topreProcess()will perform the appropriate translation.Parameters: - state — a structure containing information about the
- current proccessing state of the mathematics
Returns: null
-
preTranslate(state)¶ This routine replaces
preProcess()above when the jax’sjax.jsfile is loaded. It is called byMathJax.Hubto ask the output processor to prepare to process math scripts. (For example, the HTML-CSS output jax uses this to determine em-sizes for all the mathematics at once, to minimize page reflows that slow down Internet Explorer.)The routine can use
state.jax[this.id]to obtain the array of element jax that are to be processed. The output jax can use thestatevariable to maintain its own state information, but any properties that it adds to the variable should have a prefix that is the output jax’s ID. For example, the HTML-CSS output jax might usestate.HTMLCSSlastto keep track of the last equation it processed, or could addstate.HTMLCSS = {...}to create an object of its own within the state variable.Parameters: - state — a structure containing information about the current proccessing state of the mathematics
Returns: null
-
Translate(script, state) This is the main routine called by MathJax when an element jax is to be converted to output. The default
Translate()method throws an error indicating thatTranslate()hasn’t been defined, so when thejax.jsfile loads, it should override the defaultTranslate()with its own version that does the actual translation.You should use
MathJax.Hub.getJaxFor(script)to obtain the element jax for the given script. The translation process may modify the element jax (e.g., if it has data that needs to be stored with the jax), and may insert DOM elements into the document near the jax’s<script>tag. The output jax can use thestatevariable to maintain information about its processing state, but seepreTranslate()above for naming conventions for properties that are added.Parameters: - script — the
<script>element to be translated - state — a structure containing information about the current proccessing state of the mathematics
Returns: the element jax resulting from the translation
- script — the
-
postTranslate(state)¶ This routines is called by
MathJax.Hubwhen the translation of math elements is complete, and can be used by the output processor to finalize any actions that it needs to complete. (For example, making the mathematics visible, or forcing a reflow of the page.)The routine can use
state.jax[this.id]to obtain the array of element jax that were processed, or can use thestatevariable to store its own state information (seepreProcess()above for caveats about naming properties).Parameters: - state — a structure containing information about the current proccessing state of the mathematics
Returns: null
-
Register(mimetype) This registers the MIME-type for the element jax associated with this output jax so that MathJax knows to call this jax when it wants to display an element jax of that type. Several output jax may register for the same input jax, in which case the first one to register will be the default one for that type.
Parameters: - mimetype — the MIME-type of the input this jax processes
Returns: null
-
Remove(jax) Removes the output associated with the given element jax. The routine can use
jax.SourceElement()to locate the<script>tag associated with the element jax.Parameters: - jax — the element jax whose display should be removed
Returns: null
If an output jax wants its output to handle the contextual menu item and zooming, then it needs to tie into the event-handling code (MathEvents) and the zoom-handling code (MathZoom). That requires the following methods.
-
getJaxFromMath(math)¶ This is called by the event-handling code (MathEvents) to get the element jax associated with the DOM element that caused an event to occur. The output jax will have attached event handlers to some DOM element that is part of its output, and the MathEvents code uses this routine to map back to the jax associated with that output.
Parameters: - math — a DOM element that triggered a DOM event (e.g., a mouse click)
Returns: the ElementJax structure associated with the DOM element
-
Zoom(jax, span, math, Mw, Mh)¶ This routine is called by the zoom-handling code (MathZoom) when an expression has received its zoom trigger event (e.g., a double-click). The
jaxis the math that needs to be zoomed,spanis a<span>element in which the zoomed version of the math should be placed,mathis the DOM element that received the zoom trigger event, andMwandMhare the maximum width and height allowed for the zoom box (thespan).The return value is an object with the following properties:
Y— the vertical offset from the top of thespanto- the baseline of the mathematics
mW— the width of the original mathematics elementmH— the height of the original mathematics elementzW— the width of the zoomed mathzH— the height of the zoomed math
All of these values are in pixels.
Parameters: - jax — the jax to be zoomed
- span — the
<span>in which to place the zoomed math - math — the DOM element generating the zoom event
- Mw — the maximum width of the zoom box
- Mh — the maximum height of the zoom box
Returns: a structure as described above
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax.ElementJax Class¶
The element jax is the bridge between the input and output jax, and
contains the data produced by the input jax needed by the output jax
to display the results. It is tied to the individual <script> tag
that produced it, and is the object used by JavaScript programs to
interact with the mathematics on the page.
An element jax is stored in the jax.js file in a subdirectory of
the jax/element directory, with the subdirectory name being the
name of the element jax. Currently, there is only one element jax
class, the mml element jax, and it is stored in jax/element/mml.
The MathJax.ElementJax class is a subclass of the MathJax Jax class, and inherits the properties and methods of that class. Those listed below are the additional or overridden ones from that class.
Class Properties¶
-
id The name of the jax.
-
version The version number of the jax.
-
directory The directory where the jax files are stored (e.g.,
"[MathJax]/jax/element/mml").
Instance Properties¶
-
inputJax The name of the input jax that created the element.
-
outputJax The name of the output jax that has processed this element.
-
inputID The DOM id of the
<script>tag that generated this element (if it doesn’t have one initially, the MathJax hub will supply one). Note that this is not a reference to the element itself; that element will have a reference to this element jax, and if inputID were a reference back, that would cause a reference loop, which some browsers would not free properly during trash collection, thus causing a memory leak.
-
originalText A string indicating the original input text that was processed for this element. (In the future, this may be managed by the input jax rather than
MathJax.Hub.)
-
mimeType The MIME-type of the element jax (jax/mml in the case of an mml element jax).
Other data specific to the element jax subclass may also appear here.
Methods¶
-
Text(text[, callback])¶ Sets the input text for this element to the given text and reprocesses the mathematics. (I.e., updates the equation to the new one given by text). When the processing is complete, the callback, if any, is called.
Parameters: - text — the new mathematics source string for the element
- callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Rerender([callback]) Removes the output and produces it again (for example, if CSS has changed that would alter the spacing of the mathematics). Note that the internal representation isn’t regenerated; only the output is. The callback, if any, is called when the process completes.
Parameters: - callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Reprocess([callback]) Removes the output and then retranslates the input into the internal form and reredners the output again. The callback, if any, is called when the process completes.
Parameters: - callback — the callback specification
Returns: the callback object
-
Remove() Removes the output for this element from the web page (but does not remove the original
<script>). The<script>will be considered unprocessed, and the next call toMathJax.hub.Typeset()will re-display it.Returns: null
-
SourceElement()¶ Returns a reference to the original
<script>DOM element associated to this element jax.Returns: the <script>element
-
needsUpdate()¶ Indicates whether the mathematics has changed so that its output needs to be updated.
Returns: trueif the mathematics needs to be reprocessed,falseotherwise
Output jax may add new methods to the base element jax class to
perform exporting to other formats. For example, a MathML output jax
could add toMathML(), or an accessibility output jax could add
toAudible(). These could be made available via the MathJax
contextual menu.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The Base Jax Class¶
The MathJax.InputJax, MathJax.OutputJax and MathJax.ElementJax classes are all subclasses of the base Jax class in MathJax. This is a private class that implements the methods common to all three other jax classes.
Unlike most MathJax.Object classes, calling the class object creates a subclass of the class, rather than an instance of the class. E.g.,
MathJax.InputJax.MyInputJax = MathJax.InputJax({
id: "MyInputJax",
version: "1.0",
...
});
creates MathJax.InputJax.MyInputJax as a subclass of MathJax.InputJax.
Class Properties¶
-
directory The name of the jax directory (usually
"[MathJax]/jax"). Overridden in the subclass to be the specific directory for the class, e.g."[MathJax]/jax/input".
-
extensionDir The name of the extensions directory (usually
"[MathJax]/extensions").
Instance Properties¶
-
id The name of the jax.
-
version The version number of the jax.
-
directory The directory for the jax (e.g.,
"[MathJax]/jax/input/TeX").
-
require: null An array of files to load before the
jax.jsfile calls theMathJax.Ajax.loadComplete()method.
-
config: {} An object that contains the default configuration options for the jax. These can be modified by the author by including a configuration subsection for the specific jax in question.
-
JAXFILE: "jax.js" The name of the file that contains the main code for the jax.
Methods¶
-
Translate(script)¶ This is a stub for a routine that should be defined by the jax’s
jax.jsfile when it is loaded. It should perform the translation action for the specific jax. For an input jax, it should return the ElementJax object that it created. TheTranslate()method is never called directly by MathJax; during theloadComplete()call, this function is copied to theProcess()method, and is called via that name. The defaultTranslate()method throws an error indicating that theTranslate()method was not redefined. That way, if thejax.jsfile fails to load for some reason, you will receive an error trying to process mathematics with this jax.Parameters: - script — reference to the DOM
<script>object for the mathematics to be translated
Returns: an ElementJax object, or
null- script — reference to the DOM
-
Register(mimetype)¶ This method is overridden in the InputJax, OutputJax and ElementJax subclasses to handle the registration of those classes of jax.
Parameters: - mimetype — the MIME-type to be associated with the jax
Returns: null
-
Config() Inserts the configuration block for this jax from the author’s configuration specification into the jax’s
configproperty. If the configuration includes anAugmentobject, that is used to augment the jax (that is, the configuration can override the methods of the object, as well as the data). This is called automatically during the loading of thejax.jsfile.
-
Startup()¶ This is a method that can be overridden in the subclasses to perform initialization at startup time (after the configuration has occurred).
-
loadComplete(file) This is called by the
config.jsandjax.jsfiles when they are completely loaded and are ready to signal that fact to MathJax. Forconfig.js, this simply calls theMathJax.Ajax.loadComplete()method for theconfig.jsfile. Forjax.js, the actions performed here are the following:- Post the “[name] Jax Config” message to the startup signal.
- Perform the jax’s
Config()method. - Post the “[name] Jax Require” message to the startup signal.
- Load the files from the jax’s
requireandconfig.extensionsarrays. - Post the “[name] Jax Startup” message to the startup signal.
- Perform the jax’s
Startup()method. - Post the “[name] Jax Ready” message to the startup signal.
- Copy the
preTranslate,Translate, andpostTranslatefunctions topreProcess,Process, andpostProcess. - Perform the
MathJax.Ajax.loadComplete()call for thejax.jsfile.
Note that the configuration process (the
Config()call) can modify therequireorconfig.extensionsarrays to add more files that need to be loaded, and that theStartup()method isn’t called until those files are completely loaded.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
The MathJax Object-Oriented Programming Model¶
MathJax uses an object-oriented programming model for its main components, such as the Input jax, Output jax, and Element jax. The model is intended to be light-weight and is based on JavaScript’s prototype inheritance mechanism. Object classes are created by making subclasses of MathJax.Object or one of its subclasses, and are instantiated by calling the object class as you would a function.
For example:
MathJax.Object.Foo = MathJax.Object.Subclass({
Init: function (x) {this.setX(x)},
getX: function () {return this.x},
setX: function (x) {this.x = x}
});
var foo = MathJax.Object.Foo("bar");
foo.getX(); // returns "bar"
foo.setX("foobar");
foo.getX(); // returns "foobar"
Object classes can have static properties and methods, which are
accessed via the object class variable. E.g.,
MathJax.Object.Foo.SUPER or MathJax.Object.Foo.Augment() for
the object in the example above. Static values are not inherited by
subclasses.
Static Properties¶
-
SUPER Pointer to the super class for this subclass. (It is a reference to MathJax.Object in the example above.)
Static Methods¶
-
Subclass(def[, static])¶ Creates a subclass of the given class using the contents of the def object to define new methods and properties of the object class, and the contents of the optional static object to define new static methods and properties.
Parameters: - def — object that defines the properties and methods
- static — object that defines static properties and methods
Returns: the new object class
-
Augment(def[, static])¶ Adds new properties and methods to the class prototype. All instances of the object already in existence will receive the new properties and methods automatically.
Parameters: - def — object that defines the properties and methods
- static — object that defines static properties and methods
Returns: the object class itself
Properties¶
-
constructor Pointer to the constructor function for this class. E.g.,
foo.constructorwould be a reference toMathJax.Object.Fooin the example above.
Methods¶
-
Init([data])¶ An optional function that is called when an instance of the class is created. When called, the this variable is set to the newly instantiated object, and the data is whatever was passed to the object constructor. For instance, in the example above, the variable
foois created by callingMathJax.Object.Foo("bar"), which calls theMathJax.Object.Fooobject’sInit()method with data equal to"bar". If desired, theInit()method can create a different object, and return that, in which case this becomes the return value for the object constructor.Parameters: - data — the data from the constructor call
Returns: nullor the object to be returned by the constructor
-
isa(class)¶ Returns
trueif the object is an instance of the given class, or of a subclass of the given class, andfalseotherwise. So using thefoovalue defined above,foo.isa(MathJax.Object); // returns true foo.isa(MathJax.Object.Foo); // returns true foo.isa(MathJax.InputJax); // returns false
-
can(method)¶ Checks if the object has the given method and returns
trueif so, otherwise returnsfalse. This allows you to test if an object has a particular function available before trying to call it (i.e., if an object implements a particular feature). For example:foo.can("getX"); // returns true foo.can("bar"); // returns false
-
has(property)¶ Checks if the object has the given property and returns
trueif so, otherwise returnsfalse. This allows you to test if an object has a particular property available before trying to use it. For example:foo.has("getX"); // returns true foo.has("x"); // returns true foo.has("bar"); // returns false
Accessing the Super Class¶
If a subclass overrides a method of its parent class, it may want to
call the original function as part of its replacement method. The
semantics for this are a bit awkward, but work efficiently. Within a
method, the value arguments.callee.SUPER refers to the super
class, so you can access any method of the superclass using that. In
order to have this refer to the current object when you call the
super class, however, you need to use call() or
apply() to access the given method.
For example, arguments.callee.SUPER.method.call(this,data) would
call the superclass’ method and pass it data as its argument,
properly passing the current object as this. Alternatively, you can
use this.SUPER(arguments) in place of arguments.callee.SUPER.
It is also possible to refer to the super class explicitly rather than
through arguments.callee.SUPER, as in the following example:
MathJax.Class1 = MathJax.Object.Subclass({
Init: function(x) {this.x = x},
XandY: function(y) {return "Class1: x and y = " + this.x + " and " + y}
});
MathJax.Class2 = MathJax.Class1.Subclass({
XandY: function (y) {return "Class2: "+arguments.callee.SUPER.XandY.call(this,y)}
});
MathJax.Class3 = MathJax.Class2.Subclass({
XandY: function (y) {return "Class3: "+MathJax.Class2.prototype.XandY.call(this,y)}
});
MathJax.Class4 = MathJax.Class1.Subclass({
XandY: function (y) {return "Class4: "+this.SUPER(arguments).XandY.call(this,y)}
});
var foo = MathJax.Class2("foo");
foo.XandY("bar"); // returns "Class2: Class1: x and y = foo and bar"
var bar = MathJax.Class3("bar");
bar.XandY("foo"); // returns "Class3: Class2: Class1: x and y = bar and foo"
var moo = MathJax.Class4("moo");
moo.XandY("cow"); // returns "Class4: Class1: x and y = moo and cow"
Since both of these mechanisms are rather awkward, MathJax provides an alternative syntax that is easier on the programmer, but at the cost of some inefficiency in creating the subclass and in calling methods that access the super class.
Since most calls to the super class are to the overridden method, not
to some other method, the method name and the call() are
essentially redundant. You can get a more convenient syntax by
wrapping the def for the Subclass() call in a call to
MathJax.Object.SimpleSUPER(), as in the following example:
MathJax.Class1 = MathJax.Object.Subclass({
Init: function (x) {this.x = x},
XandY: function (y) {return "Class1: x and y = " + this.x + " and " + y}
});
MathJax.Class2 = MathJax.Class1.Subclass(
MathJax.Object.SimpleSUPER({
XandY: function (y) {return "Class2: "+this.SUPER(y)},
AnotherMethod: function () {return this.x} // it's OK if a method doesn't use SUPER
})
);
var foo = MathJax.Class2("foo");
foo.XandY("bar"); // returns "Class2: Class1: x and y = foo and bar"
Miscellanea¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Frequently Asked Questions¶
Which license is MathJax distributed under?¶
MathJax is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
Will MathJax make my page load slower even if there’s no math?¶
MathJax loads components only when needed so there is a big difference between what is loaded on a page without mathematics and one that does include mathematics. On a page with no mathematics, loading MathJax requires two files: MathJax.js and a configuration file. If taken from a cdn, the actual (compressed) data transferred for MathJax.js will be about 14.4KB. The configuration file can vary greatly in size depending on what is included; minimal configurations can be as small as 3.7KB, reasonable configurations vary between 25KB and 40KB – bringing us to a total of 18KB to 55KB, i.e., roughly a small to medium sized image. To learn more about configuring MathJax, see our documentation.
Mathematics is not rendering properly in IE. How do I fix that?¶
First, please open the MathJax homepage at www.mathjax.org in IE to see if that loads correctly. If it does, this indicates that there may be something wrong with the webpage you were trying to view initially. If appropriate, upgrade the website to the latest version of MathJax. If the MathJax homepage does not display mathematics properly, there may be an issue with your security settings in Internet Explorer. Please check the following settings:
- “Active Scripting” under the Scripting section should be enabled, as it allows JavaScript to run.
- “Run ActiveX controls and Plugins” should be enabled (or prompted) in the “ActiveX Controls and Plugins” section.
- “Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting” needs to be enabled (or prompted) in the same “ActiveX Controls and Plugins” section. Note that it requires a restart of IE if you change this setting.
- “Font Download” has to be enabled (or prompted) in the “Downloads” section. This is required for MathJax to use web-based fonts for optimal viewing experience.
You may need to select Custom Level security to make these changes. If you have verified that the above settings are correct, tried clearing your cache and restarting IE, and are still experiencing problems with displaying mathematics on www.mathjax.org, we would appreciate it if you reported the problem to the MathJax User Group so we can look into it. Please follow the guidelines for reporting problems described below.
Some of my mathematics is too large or too small. How do I get it right?¶
MathJax renders mathematics dynamically so that formulas and symbols are
nicely integrated into the surrounding text - with matching font size,
margins, and baseline. So, in other words: it should look right. If your
mathematics is too large or too small in comparison to its surroundings,
you may be using the incorrect typesetting style. Following LaTeX
conventions, MathJax supports two typesetting styles: inline and
paragraph (or “display”) equations. For inline equations, MathJax tries
hard to maintain the inter-line spacing. This means things like
fractions and roots are vertically compressed, and smaller fonts are
used. Paragraph equations are shown as a separate paragraph and can be
displayed with more space and slightly larger fonts. The standard
delimiters for inline equations are \\(...\\), while for paragraph
equations they are $$...$$ or \\[...\\], but they can be
customized. For how to configure MathJax to scale all mathematics
relative to the surrounding text, check our documentation for the HTML
output and
the SVG output.
How do I access a cdn using a https secure connection?¶
a cdn can be accessed via https. We advise using the protocol
agnostic //cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js. For more
information, see our documentation.
My mathematics is private. Is it safe to use MathJax?¶
Yes. MathJax is JavaScript code that is run entirely within the browser
of the user, and so your site’s actual content never leaves the browser
while MathJax is rendering. If you are using MathJax on a cdn, it
interacts with a web server to get font data but this is all put
together in the browser of the reader. In case you have concerns about
cross-site scripting, you can access a cdn service using the
secure https protocol to prevent tampering with the code between the
CDN and a browser. (Note, though, that this currently does not work with
the default url cdn.mathjax.org - see this FAQ
for more background and an alternative url). Or, if you prefer, you can
also install MathJax on your own web server. MathJax does not reference
script codes on other websites. The code is, of course, open source
which means that you can review it and inspect its
integrity.
Does MathJax support Presentation and/or Content MathML?¶
MathML comes in two types: Presentation MathML, which describes what an equation looks like, and Content MathML, which describes what an equation means. By default, MathJax works with Presentation MathML and offers an extension for Content MathML, see the documentation on MathML support. You can also convert your Content MathML expressions to Presentation MathML yourself. A good way to do this conversion is with an XSL transformation tool, see for example the web-xslt collection. A more detailed explanation of the difference between Content and Presentation MathML can be found in the module “Presentation MathML Versus Content MathML” at cnx.org.
How do I create mathematical expressions for display with MathJax?¶
MathJax is a method to display mathematics. It is not an authoring environment, and so you will need another program to create mathematical expressions. The most common languages for mathematics on the computer are (La)TeX and MathML, and there are many authoring tools for these languages. MathJax is compatible with both MathML and (La)TeX. LaTeX code is essentially plain text, and so you do not need a special program to write LaTeX code (although complete authoring environments exist). If you are not familiar with LaTeX, you will need some determination to learn and master the language due to its specialized nature and rich vocabulary of symbols. There are various good tutorials on the net, and there is not a one-size-fits-all best one. A good starting point is the TeX User Group, or have a look at the LaTeX Wiki book. MathML is an XML-based web format for mathematical expressions. MathML3, the latest version, has been an official W3C recommendation since October 2010. MathML is widely supported by Computer Algebra Systems and can be created with a choice of authoring tools, including Microsoft Office with the MathType equation editor. A list of software the supports MathML may be found in The W3C MathML software list.
I ran into a problem with MathJax. How do I report it?¶
If you come across a problem with MathJax, please report it so that the development team and other users are aware and can look into it. It is important that you report your problem following the steps outlined here because this will help us to rapidly establish the nature of the problem and work towards a solution effectively. If you have are experiencing a problem, please follow these steps:
- Have you cleared your browser cache, quit your browser, and restarted it? If not, please do so first and check if the problem persists. These instructions tell you how to clear your cache on the major browsers.
- Have you turned of other extensions and plugins in your browser, and restarted it?
- Have a look at the math rendering examples on www.mathjax.org to see if you experience problems there as well. This might help you to determine the nature of your problem.
- If possible, check whether the problem has been solved in the latest MathJax release. The preferred way to do this is to invoke the most recent version of MathJax on a cdn by pointing to https://example.com/MathJax.js. If you need to work locally, try a fresh install of the latest release.
- Search through the MathJax User Group to see if anyone else has come across the problem before.
- Found a real and new problem? Please report it to the MathJax User
Group including the
following information:
- A detailed description of the problem. What exactly is not working as you expected? What do you see?
- The MathJax version you are working with, your operating system, and full browser information including all version information.
- If at all possible, a pointer to a webpage that is publicly available and exhibits the problem. This makes sure that we can reproduce the problem and test possible solutions.
The MathJax font folder is too big. Is there any way to compress it?¶
No, there is no simple way to make the fonts folder smaller. We have tried to make the fonts folder as small as possible, but in order to render math on some older browsers, you need image fonts, which take up most of the space. This is because you need an individual image file for each character in each font in each of a dozen different sizes, and each file must be at least the block size of the hard drive it is stored on (usually 4 kb). With nearly 30,000 separate image files, this adds up to a lot. Some users have suggested using a “sprite font” that has all the characters in a single image, from which MathJax could show only the particular character it wants. This is a nice idea, but it does not work well in practice (at least not if you want it to work reliably across multiple browsers). Since the image fonts are intended as a last resort for browsers whose functionality is not well behaved, relying on fancy CSS tricks to clip large images is not going to be a viable strategy. This approach also has performance and printing problems.
The single-glyph-per-file approach has proven to be the only truly
reliable and maintainable approach that we have found. If you want to
disable image fonts altogether, however, in order to save space, you
can. Note: If you disable image fonts, MathJax might not work on
some users’ browsers. With image fonts disabled, users must either have
the MathJax or STIX fonts on their computer or their browser must
support the @font-face CSS directive. This means IE6+, Chrome, Safari
3.1+, Firefox 3.5+, and Opera 10+, or other browsers based on their
rendering engines. On earlier browsers (without local fonts) or if
webfonts are blocked , MathJax will not be able to render math reliably (though
it will try its best). To disable image fonts, edit the MathJax config
file at [MathJax]/config/MathJax.js or the custom config inside your
template’s <script> tag and set imageFont to null.
imageFont: null
This will tell MathJax that there are no image fonts available and it
will no longer look for them. You can then delete the
[MathJax]/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/png/ directory, which takes up the most
space in the fonts folder. Do *not* delete the other directories,
as they are needed to handle @font-face for other browsers. For more
information, see this
guide.
Why is MathJax using image fonts instead of web fonts?¶
Web fonts are supported by all popular browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera…) and they are scalable, which means much better display and print quality. Clearly, you want to make sure this is working on your install of MathJax. Here are several reasons web fonts might not be working for you:
- Config not specifying web fonts: Web fonts are enabled by
default, but double check your MathJax configuration if you have done
any tweaking. The default config file is at
[MathJax]/config/defaults.js. Don’t forget that you might have custom config in the<script>tag where you include MathJax in your template. In your config, make sure you setwebFont: "TeX". This will make MathJax try to load the TeX web font from the fonts folder. - MathJax times out waiting for fonts to arrive: You can tell by
entering
javascript:alert(MathJax.Message.Log())into the URL location type-in area (and pressing RETURN), and checking if there is a message about switching to image fonts. This can happen in particular if your network connection is relatively slow. In v2.0, the timeout was lengthened somewhat, and MathJax will switch only if the first font fails to arrive (if it succeeds in obtaining one font, it assumes it can get the rest). - Missing font files: In order for MathJax to send web font files
to the client, the font files need to be in the right place on the
server. Different browsers accept different font files, so there are
different folders for the various font files. Make sure that the eot,
otf, and svg folders are in the
[MathJax]/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/directory. - Firefox local @font-face feature: Firefox’s interpretation of the same-origin security policy is more strict than most other browsers, and it applies to fonts loaded with the @font-face CSS directive. Firefox will not load such fonts if they are stored outside the directory containing the page that requests the fonts. That means that if your MathJax directory is in a higher-level directory, Firefox wont be able to read the font files from it when you load the file locally (this does not affect MathJax when used from an actual web server). In order to fix this, you can install the MathJax TeX fonts in the system fonts folder on the computer where you are viewing the files locally, or you can put the MathJax folder in the same directory as (or a subdirectory of) the web page you are viewing. A symbolic link to a MathJax installation at another location should be sufficient, but that will depend on the operating system. Neither of these is an ideal solution and we are looking for a better one, if you find one, please let us know.
- Firefox font preferences: Firefox has a setting to disable the use of webfonts, which forces MathJax to fallback to picture fonts. You can change these settings under Edit => Preferences => Content => Fonts => Advanced => “Allow pages to select their own fonts instead of my selections above”.
- IIS configuration: Microsoft’s IIS web server by default doesn’t recognize files with unknown extensions such as .otf and .svg, and doesn’t know how to serve them. This results in a HTTP Error 404.3 - Not Found error message, causing MathJax to fall back to image fonts. If you are using IIS, you can enable the delivery of these file types by setting a custom mimetype configuration. See, for example, Mads Kristensen’s blog and Paul Irish’s blog for instructions on how to do this (as well as more background information).
- Cross-domain access on shared installations: When you are using a shared installation, where MathJax is installed on a different server than the webpages using it, Firefox’s and IE9’s same-origin security policy for cross-domain scripting may prevent MathJax from loading web fonts. This specific problem, and a possible resolution, are described in more detail in these installation instructions.
- Local pages on IE9: IE9’s same-origin security policy, which also
affects shared installations (see above), has implications for the
viewing of local files (with a
file://[filename]URL). See these installation instructions for details and a suggested resolution.
Why doesn’t the TeX macro \something work?¶
It really depends on what \something is. We have a full list of the
supported TeX
commands. If the
command you want to use is not in this list, you may be able to define a
TeX macro for it, or if you want to get really advanced, you can define
custom JavaScript that implements it (see the files in the extensions
folder for some examples). Keep in mind that MathJax is meant for
typesetting math on the web. It only replicates the math
functionality of LaTeX and not the text formatting capabilities. Any
text formatting on the web should be done in HTML and CSS, not TeX. If
you would like to convert full TeX documents into HTML to publish
online, you should use a TeX to HTML converter like
LaTeXML,
Tralics or
tex4ht, but you should
realize that TeX conversion tools will never produce results as good as
controlling the HTML and CSS source yourself.
What should IE’s X-UA-Compatible meta tag be set to?¶
We strongly suggest to follow Microsoft’s suggestion to use IE=edge. That
is, in the document <head> include
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
This will force all IE versions to use their latest engine which is the optimal setting for MathJax. For more information, see the Microsoft documentation on compatibility modes.
Does MathJax support TeX macros?¶
Yes. You can define TeX macros in MathJax the same way you do in LaTeX
with \newcommand{cmd}{args}{def}. An example is
\newcommand{\water}{H_{2}O}, which will output the chemical formula
for water when you use the \water command. \renewcommand works
as well. You can also store macros in the MathJax configuration. For
more information, see the
documentation.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Browser Compatibility¶
Extensive browser support is an important goal for MathJax. At the same time, MathJax does require a certain minimum level of browser functionality. The following list describes the browsers that have been tested with MathJax. Please comment in the MathJax User Group or file issues on GitHub if you notice inaccuracies or problems.
For screenshots, we suggest to visit mathjax.org/demos/tex-samples/ using services such as browsershots.org, saucelabs.com, or browserstack.com.
| Browser | Versions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer | 6.0 and later (Windows) | In MathJax v2.0+, IE8 and IE9 run faster in their IE8 and IE9 standards mode than in IE7 emulation mode. |
| Firefox | 3.0 and later (Windows, MacOS, Linux) | Firefox 2.0 is not supported. Firefox before 3.5 uses image fonts. |
| Chrome | 0.3 and later (Windows, MacOS, Linux) | |
| Safari | 2.0 and later (MacOSX, Windows) | |
| Opera | 9.5 and later (Windows, MacOS, Linux) | |
| iPad/iPhone/iTouch | All iOS versions | |
| Android stock browser | v2.1 and later | |
| BlackBerry | OS 6 and later | |
| Symbian | Supported | Tested on Symbian3 emulator. |
| Konqueror | 4.x and later (Linux) | Not tested with older versions. |
| Gecko browsers | Not systematically tested, but should be like Firefox. | |
| WebKit browsers | Not systematically tested, but should be like Safari. |
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
EPUB3 Reading systems overview¶
With EPUB3, MathML has become part of the EPUB standard. All EPUB3 reading systems rely on regular browser engines to render EPUB content. This means they face the same (lack of) MathML support as browsers do.
Some EPUB reading systems leverage MathJax to provide MathML support without having to wait for browser engines to catch up.
For general information on EPUB 3 support, check Epubtest.org.
MathML support on EPUB3 reading systems¶
The following table collects know information on EPUB reading systems and their MathML support. Please help us keep this table up-to-date!
| Name | MathML support | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Digital Editions | no | Windows, Mac |
| Aldiko | no | Android |
| Azardi Desktop | via Gecko | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| AzardiOnline | via MathJax | web-based |
| Bluefire reader | on iOS via mobile Safari | iOS, Android, web-based |
| booki.sh | browser-dependent | web-based |
| Bureau van Dijk Reader | via MathJax | web-based, Android, iOS, Windows8 |
| Cainteoir | no | Linux |
| Calibre | via MathJax | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Coolreader | no | Android |
| Dolphin Easy Reader | via MathPlayer | Windows |
| epub.js | via MathJax | web-based |
| EPUBReader | via Gecko | Firefox add-on |
| FBreader | no | Android, Linux, Windows, Mac |
| Go Read | via MathJax | Android |
| Gyan reader | via MathJax | Android |
| iBooks | via mobile Safari | iOS, Mac |
| IDEAL reader | via MathJax | Android |
| Ingram VitalSource Bookshelf | via MathJax | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, web-based |
| Kobo Reader | mobile Safari on iOS | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry, web-based |
| Lektz | no | Android, iOS, Windows |
| Lucifox | via Gecko | Firefox Add-on |
| Mantano Reader | no | Android, iOS |
| MegaReader | no | iOS |
| Nook Apps | no | Windows, iOS, Android |
| Readium | iOS: via mobile Safari, web-based: via MathJax | SDK |
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax Badges¶
We are proud of the work we have done on MathJax, and we hope you are proud to use it. If you would like to show your support for the MathJax project, please consider including one of our “Powered by MathJax” web badges on your pages that use it.
The MathJax Badges¶
| Badge | HTML to Use |
 |
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org">
<img title="Powered by MathJax"
src="https://www.mathjax.org/badge/badge.gif"
border="0" alt="Powered by MathJax" />
</a>
|
 |
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org">
<img title="Powered by MathJax"
src="https://www.mathjax.org/badge/badge-square.png"
border="0" alt="Powered by MathJax" />
</a>
|
 |
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org">
<img title="Powered by MathJax"
src="https://www.mathjax.org/badge/badge-square-2.png"
border="0" alt="Powered by MathJax" />
</a>
|
 |
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org">
<img title="Powered by MathJax"
src="https://www.mathjax.org/badge/badge-square-3.png"
border="0" alt="Powered by MathJax" />
</a>
|
Thanks to our friends at OER Glue for designing the last two badges.
The MathJax Logo¶
 |
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org">
<img title="Powered by MathJax"
src="https://www.mathjax.org/badge/mj_logo.png"
border="0" alt="Powered by MathJax" />
</a>
|
Alternative versions¶
While we do not allow the modification of the badges or the logo, we are open to requests for different versions.
- An SVG version of the square badge is available.
- Smaller versions of the main logo are available
Rules¶
We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of excellence for MathJax, and part of that is avoiding confusion and misleading impressions; therefore, if you do use our badge or logo, we ask that you observe these simple rules (for the fine print, see below):
Things You Can Do¶
- use the MathJax Logo or Badges in marketing, and other publicity materials related to MathJax;
- distribute unchanged MathJax products (code, development tools, documentation) as long as you distribute them without charge;
- describe your own software as “based on MathJax technology”, or “incorporating MathJax source code” if your software includes modified MathJax products;
- link to MathJax’s website(s) by using the logos and badges we provide;
- use MathJax’s word marks in describing and advertising your services or products relating to a MathJax product, so long as you don’t do anything that might mislead customers. For example, it’s OK if your website says, “Customization services for MathJax available here”; and
- make t-shirts, desktop wallpaper, or baseball caps though only for yourself and your friends (meaning people from whom you don’t receive anything of value in return).
Things You Cannot Do¶
- alter our logo or badges in any way
- use our logo or badge online without including the link to the MathJax home page
- place our logo or badges in such close proximity to other content that it is indistinguishable
- make our logo or badges the most distinctive or prominent feature on your website, printed material or other content
- use our logo or badges in a way that suggests any type of association or partnership with MathJax or approval, sponsorship or endorsement by MathJax (unless allowed via a license from us)
- use our logo or badges in a way that is harmful, deceptive, obscene or otherwise objectionable to the average person
- use our logo or badges on websites or other places containing content associated with hate speech, pornography, gambling or illegal activities
- use our logo or badges in, or in connection with, content that disparages us or sullies our reputation
And now the fine print:¶
The words and logotype “MathJax,” the MathJax badges, and any combination of the foregoing, whether integrated into a larger whole or standing alone, are MathJax’s trademarks. You are authorized to use our trademarks under the terms and conditions above, and only on the further condition that you download the trademarks directly from our website. MathJax retains full, unfettered, and sole discretion to revoke this trademark license for any reason whatsoever or for no specified reason.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Articles and Presentations¶
Articles¶
- MathML forges on by Peter Krautzberger, MathJax, 2014
- Accessible Pages with MathJax by Neil Soiffer Design Science, Inc., 2010
- Mathematics E-learning Community Benefits from MathJax by Hylke Koers, MathJax, 2010
Presentations¶
- MathJax – beautiful mathematics on the web by Peter Krautzberger, MathJax, 2014
- MathML: math made for the web and beyond by Peter Krautzberger, MathJax, 2013
- MathJax: The Past and the Future by Davide P. Cervone 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego
- MathJax from an Author’s Point of View by Davide P. Cervone 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego
- MathJax: a JavaScript-based engine for including TeX and MathML in HTML by Davide P. Cervone 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco
- MathType, Math Markup, and the Goal of Cut and Paste by Robert Miner 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Using MathJax in popular web platforms¶
MathJax plugins are available for a growing number of wikis, blogs, and other content-management systems.
- MathJax-LaTeX, Simple-MathJax plug-ins for WordPress.
- MathJax plugin for Drupal.
- MathJax integration for Plone.
- Concrete5 MathJax plugin.
- MathJax plugins for Joomla.
- Sphinx extension: MathJax
- MathJax plugin for DokuWiki
- MediaWiki math extension used on Wikipedia, using MathJax since v1.20.
- Tiddlywiki plugin, PluginMathJax for TiddlyWiki.
- WikidPad, a plugin for the personal wiki platform.
- MathJax Extension for the webbased SVG editor SVG edit.
- Instantbird Extension adds MathJax to the Mozilla-based chat client.
- MathJax plugin for Trac
If the program you are using is not one of these, you might be able to use MathJax by modifying the theme or template for your wiki or blog, as explained below.
Unofficial Tutorials¶
- One Mathematical Cat’s tutorial
- Using MathJax on almost all blogging platforms by Christian Perfect.
- Using Jekyll to generate fallback images in RSS and use MathJax in html.
- Using MathJax on Posterous.
- Using MathJax in Blogger
- Using MathJax with Google Web Toolkit widgets
- Using MathJax with Markdown. See also notepag.es for writing Markdown+MathJax.
- Posting to WordPress from LaTeX, using MathJax
- Converting Javadocs from LaTeXlet to MathJax
- Using iPython Notebooks with Mathjax+Markdown
- deck.js with MathJax (slide show / presentation software)
- Example of MathJax in Google’s html5slides, source on github
Using MathJax in a Theme File¶
Most web-based content-management systems include a theme or template layer that determines how the pages look, and that loads information common to all pages. Such theme files provide a way to include MathJax in your web templates in the absence of MathJax-specific plugins for the system you are using. To take advantage of this approach, you will need access to your theme files, which probably means you need to be an administrator for the site; if you are not, you may need to have an administrator do these steps for you. You will also have to identify the right file if the theme consists of multiple files.
To enable MathJax in your web platform, add the line:
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML"></script>
either just before the </head> tag in your theme file, or at the end of
the file if it contains no </head>.
Keep in mind that this will enable MathJax for your current theme/template only. If you change themes or update your theme, you will have to repeat these steps. We strongly suggest to use a plugin or help the community of your favorite software by writing a plugin.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
MathJax In Use¶
This is a selection of (web) applications using MathJax — showcasing some interesting examples that may serve as inspiration.
Please add your application!
Authoring¶
- eLyxer (LyX to HTML converter; see the Math Showcase)
- Fidus Writer, an web based editor for collaborative academic writing.
- Flatworld knowledge a free textbook publisher using MathJax in their web service.
- Inkling Habitat, a web-based publishing platform.
- jaxedit (on-line LaTeX editor with live preview)
- kramdown a markdown parser in ruby with MathJax support
- MarkedApp, a notetaking app for iOS with MathJax support.
- Markx, an open source markdown+MathJax editor heroku app using StackExchange’s PageDown library and optional pandoc integration.
- Nested (structured document creation)
- Pandoc a universal text document converter with extensive MathJax support
- Qute, Gecko-based text editor with live-preview for Markdown and MathJax.
- ReText a RestructuredText and Markdown editor with MathJax support.
- StackEdit, a versatile open source markdown+MathJax editor webapp and blogging client using StackExchange’s PageDown library.
Mobile Apps¶
- DeuterIDE, an IDE with built in MathJax input and preview.
- EQ Writer, a markdown+MathJax text editor for iOS.
- marked, a markdown+mathjax live-preview for any text editor.
- Maxima, an Android implementation of the classic computer algebra system.
- open source iOS sample app
- open source Android sample app
- open source Windows 8 Metro app
- The Graphics Codex, a 3D graphics reference guide.
- WritingKit, a markdown+mathjax editor for iOS
Plugins, Helpers, & Demos¶
- AsciiMath input, MathJax output live preview at IntMath.
- Collection of plugins and math-problem generators
- Eclipse MathJax plugin Mylyn
- Emacs OrgMode plugin for MathJax
- GmailTeX & GmailChatTeX (to use MathJax with Gmail and Gmail Chat)
- Greasemonkey script to apply MathJax on Github.
- Greasemonkey script for a more general use.
- Instantbird Extension adds MathJax to the Mozilla-based chat client.
- jQuery plugin for instant MathJax Preview of LaTeX typed in HTML textareas, including a WordPress Plugin, by Christian Perfect
- MathJax Bookmarklet to call MathJax from a cdn on any page; by Christian Perfect.
- MathJax for SPIP
- MathJax-rails, a simple ruby gem to integrate MathJax with Rails3.
- MathJax support for Emacs Muse
- Scaling math demo, live preview with slider for scaling the preview (with source on github).
- Pastebin script switching to local copy of MathJax when offline
- MathJax Extension for the webbased SVG editor SVG edit.
Others¶
- A Baysian calculator and visualization tool
- Algebra1 Solver, Android application that solves algebraic expressions.
- CADEC, a CAD system for composite materials.
- Derivative Calculator and Integral Calculator, combining MathJax with Maxima.
- Encalc (free online scientific calculator)
- Eqeditor (equation editor for iPad)
- Mathbin (math-aware paste-board site)
- MathB.in (another math-aware paste-board site)
- MathEL-Wiki (a mathematics-enabled version of JSPWiki)
- MathICanDo (visual editor and tutorials)
- Mathics (online computer algebra system)
- Mathway, equation editor.
- Scientific Online Calculator
- TeXChat an open source chat system using MathJax
- TeX Rendr (a real-time TeX renderer)
- uComment comment system in Django.
- Web Equation (handwriting to LaTeX or MathML)
- XplicitMath, solving math problems and rendering solutions in real time.
Gallery of Selected Sites¶
The Gallery of Selected Sites lists our early adopters and is closed. Contact us about your site and we’ll mention you in our Community Update blog posts.
Scholarly communication
- AMS Feature Columns
- AMS MathSciNet
- The Annals of Mathematics
- Elsevier’s Article of the Future
- CERN document server
- Project Euclid
- Biomedical Optics Express & Optical Material Express (from The Optical Society)
- INSPIRE
- Math-Net.Ru
- Scholarpedia
- Introduction to Calculus, an interactive textbook by Group Study.net
- Particle Data group uses MathJax for their repository for particle physics data.
- AstraAlgo cWeb, an international interdisciplinary journal of science.
Academia
- Lecture Notes | Notes on Physcis (example), , lecture notes to accompany two sets of video lectures given by renowned physicists, Professor Leonard Susskind and Professor Walter Lewin.
- Virtual Laboratories in Probability and Statistics (University of Alabama in Huntsville)
- KAIST (Department of Mathematical Sciences, South Korea)
- Toronto Math Wiki (Department of Mathematics of the University of Toronto)
- El Jabr (Aïn Temouchent University; in French)
- Statistics for Engineering (McMaster University)
- IsarMathLib (Isabelle/ZF theorem proving environment)
- Mathnotes.me Stanford course pages by Pierre Garapon.
- Catalogue of Complex Hadamard Matrices by Wojciech Bruzda, Wojciech Tadej and Karol Życzkowski.
- Aorinevo.com, calculus course pages.
Q&A, Forums, Wiki’s
- Math Overflow
- math.stackexchange (example), a popular Q&A platform from the makers of StackOverflow.
- ProofWiki
- Traditio-ru.org, a Russian wiki.
- GeoGebra Wiki
- suluclac.com
- SklogWiki (thermodynamics and statistical mechanics)
- Group Study / Calculus (example), an “interactive textbook”.
- Math Help Boards, math forums for all levels.
Search
Blogs&personal websites [early adoptors for historic purposes only]
- The Daily Irrelevant
- Sputsoft
- STM Publishing: Tools, Technologies and Change
- GoGCM
- The Tau Manifesto
- Mathematics Diary
- Tetration
- Program fragments
- Dysfunctional
- Strong Inference
- Math-10 blog
- Sergey Karayev’s Research notes
- iAmmar
- Thoughts on Gifted Education
- dexy blog
- Vita Smid’s blog
- mattischro.me
- Engineering revision
Technical documentation
- OPAL tutorial (Optimization of Algorithms)
- formula.js, a javascript implementation of most Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets functions, uses MathJax for documentation.
E-learning
- MathDL (from the MAA)
- Connexions
- OpenStudy OCW Scholar
- Solutions to Purcell’s Electricity and Magnetism
- Prépas Dupuy de Lôme (in French)
- One Mathematical Cat
- 17calculus
- Revolution Prep
- LearningExpress Hub
- Arithmetic Warm Ups
- BrightStarTutors
- Math.ly
- RootMath
- Schooldocs (in German)
- Chegg Homework Help
- numbas opensource, SCORM-compliant e-assessment system.
- Interactive Mathematics, a site of interactive math lessons using Asciimath-input.
- ULearniversity, K12 and college math education.
- FEMTO, a physics course in French.
- memjogger, flashcards & spaced repetition learning tool with MathJax support.
- Flaslet, a Common Core math practice site.
- Fight Finance, a site dedicated to finance math.
- Formula Directory, a collection for formulas, including the option to compute results, also available as an Android app.
Upgrading MathJax¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v2.4¶
MathJax v2.4 is primarily a bug fix release. Over 80 display bugs, line-breaking problems, and interface issues have been resolved; for a detailed listing please check the release milestone. The following are some of the highlights.
Interface¶
- #240 prevent two
identical uses of
\tagto cause identical element id. - #348 fix
Show Math aswindow crashing in IE8. - #559 remove user cookie configuration.
- #821 resolve cookie-related error in sandboxed iframes on Chrome.
- #623 fix localization on IE6–8.
- #685 fix MathMenu
and MathZoom extensions loading when
showMathMenuset to false. - #734 compress menu PNGs.
- #814 add TeX/Asciimath as annotation-xml to MathML output.
Line-breaking¶
HTML-CSS/SVG/nativeMML display¶
- #387 fix missing
styling for
merrorin SVG output. - #391 fix linebreaking within fractions in SVG output.
- #423,
#460,
#749,
#824 Zoom
improvements: fix zoom box overflow in mobile Safari, fix zoom box
for widths in
px, fix zoom box overlay in Chrome. - #470 fix AMScd rendering in native MathML output.
- #473 override
text-identof enclosing paragraph. - #476 improve big /Downarrows.
- #580 prevent CSS from overriding MathJax’s em/ex detection.
- #619 fix: vertical stretching arrows in table cells can cause extra space between rows.
- #699 fix table column spacing in NativeMathML output on Firefox.
- #701 fix clipping of stretched delimiters in HTML-CSS output.
- #703 fix math axis not scaled in script sizes.
- #715 fix hat
^too large with local STIX fonts in HTML-CSS. - #744 improve root symbol rendering in ever-changing but always buggy Chrome.
- #770 add support for dotted borders to SVG output.
- #820 fix integral overlapping with superscript using STIX fonts.
- #813 remove some redundant fixes for Native MML on Firefox 29+.
TeX emulation¶
- #367 prevent
\mmltokenfrom creatingannotationelements. - #377 improve
handling. - #389 fix
operating spacing in
\splitand\multilineenvironments. - #477,
#459 add
\textsfand\textttmacros and enablemtextInheritFontfor them. - #547 fix misalignment in nested fractions in HTML-CSS and SVG output.
- #624 fix AMScd on IE6–7.
- #632 fix
\Bignot accepting delimiters in braces - #667 fix loop in
bbox. - #691 enable
multiple
\labelin multiline environments likealign,eqnarray, andgather. - #719 empty array lines should get correct height.
- #739 fix
\operatorname*and\DeclareMathOperator*. - #746 fix spacing
for
\left ... \right. - #793 allow
unmatched groups in
\begin\end` substitutions. - #794 fix spacing
for
\bmod.
Asciimath¶
MathML Handling¶
- #328 remove
_moz-*-attributes and improve MathML processing in Firefox. - #460 fix default
value of
mo@symmetric. - #478 make
mfencedelement equivalent to its expanded form - #561 implement
menclosenotationphaseorangle. - #578 fix quote
attributes for
mselements. - #614 handle
nested
mathelements better. - #684 fix handling of double primes in superscripts.
- #691, #692, update Content MathML extension: fix IE11, plus with leading negative number.
- #763 fix
mglyphelements rendering too small.
Fonts¶
- #501 add workaround for broken Fedora STIX fonts configuration.
- #517 reset min/max width for MathJax font test.
- #576 improve font matching.
- #615 check validity of font names.
- #681 fix MathJax font test breaking responsive layout.
- #711 detect new webfonts when locally installed.
- #697 fix bold-italic for new webfonts.
Localization¶
Misc.¶
- #586 add all
input processors to
default.js. - #658 fix IE 11 recognized as Firefox.
- #730 ignore rendering targets that have been removed from document.
- #735 work around webfont bug in Chrome 32+.
- #738 improve workaround for fixed position bug in old IE versions.
- #737 add third-party path variable (for centralized custom extension hosting).
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v2.3¶
MathJax v2.3 includes a number of new features, as well a more than 30 important bug fixes.
Features:¶
- New webfonts: MathJax v2.3 adds new webfonts for
STIX,Asana Math,Neo Euler,Gyre Pagella,Gyre Termes, andLatin Modern. - Localization improvements: MathJax has been accepted into TranslateWiki.net. Thanks to the TWN community we could add 12 complete and over 20 partial translations.
- MathML improvements: MathJax’s “Show Math as” menu will now expose
the MathML annotation features. There are also two new preview
options for the MathML input mode:
mathml(now the default), which uses the original MathML as a preview, andaltimage, which uses the<math>element’saltimg(if any) for the preview. - Miscellaneous improvements: A new extension
MatchWebFontsimproves the interaction with the surrounding content when that uses a webfont. A new configuration method allows configurations to be specified using a regular JavaScript variablewindow.MathJax. - MathJax is now available as a Bower package thanks to community contributions.
TeX input:¶
- Prevent the TeX pre-processor from rendering TeX in MathML annotation-xml elements. (Issue #484)
- Fix sizing issue in
casesenvironment (Issue #485)
Fonts:¶
- Fix block-letter capital I (U+2111) appearing as J in MathJax font (Issue #555)
MathML:¶
- Improved workarounds for MathML output on WebKit (Issue #482)
- Handle empty
multiscript,mlabeledtr, and other nodes in Native MathML output (Issue #486) - Replace non-standard
MJX-arrowclass by newmenclosenotation (Issue #481) - Fix incorrect widths in Firefox MathML output (Issue #558)
- Fix display math not being centered in XHTML (Issue #650)
- Fix problem when LaTeX code appears in
annotationnode (Issue #484)
HTML-CSS/SVG output¶
- Fix MathJax not rendering in Chrome when sessionStorage is disabled (Issue #584)
- Fix
\mathchoiceerror with linebreaking in SVG output (Issue #604) - Fix poor linebreaking of “flat” MathML with unmatched parentheses (Issue #523)
Interface:¶
- Fix Double-Click zoom trigger (Issue #590)
Miscellaneous:¶
- Localization: improved fallbacks for IETF tags (Issue #492)
- Localization: support RTL in messages (Issue #627)
- Improve PNG compression (Issue #44)
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v2.2¶
MathJax v2.2 includes a number of new features, as well a more than 40 important bug fixes.
Features:¶
- Localization of MathJax user interface. (German and French translations currently available in addition to English.)
- Commutative diagrams via the
AMScdextension. - New Safe-mode extension that allows you to restrict potentially dangerous features of MathJax when it is used in a shared environment (e.g., href to javascript, styles and classes, etc.)
- Improve MathML rendering for
mfencedandmlabeldtrelements in browsers that don’t support them well. - Experimental Content MathML support.
TeX input:¶
- Avoid potential infinite loops in
\mathchoiceconstructs. (Issue #373) - Add error message when an evironment closes with unbalanced braces. (Issue #454)
- Allow spaces in the RGB, rgb, and greyscale color specifications. (Issue #446)
- Process
\$in\textarguements. (ssue #349) - Preserve spaces within
\verbarguments. (Issue #381) - Make
\smallfrownand\smallsmilecome from the variant font so they have the correct size. (Issue #436) - Make the input TeX jax generate mrow plus mo elements rather than mfenced elements (for better compatibility with native MathML implementations).
- Make
\bigand its relatives use script or scriptscript fonts (although size is still absolute, as it is in TeX) so that it balances the text weight in scripts. (Issue #350) - Convert true and false attributes to booleans in
\mmlToken. (Issue #451)
AsciiMath:¶
- Rename AsciiMath config option from
decimaltodecimalsign. (Issue #384)
Fonts:¶
- Add Greek Delta to SVG fonts. (Issue #347)
- Fix monospace space character to be the same width as the other monospace characters. (Issue #380)
- Better handling of unknown or invalid values for mathvariant or values not supported by generic fonts.
MathML:¶
- Handle empty child nodes better.
- Improved MathML rendering for
mfencedandmlabeldtrelements. - Ignore
linebreakattribute onmspacewhen dimensional attributes are set. (Issue #388) - Implement
rowspacing/columnspacingformtablein native MathML output in Firefox using cell padding.
HTML-CSS/SVG output¶
- Allow
\colorto override link color in SVG output. (Issue #427) - Add min-width to displayed equations with labels so that they cause their containers to have non-zero width (like when they are in a table cell or an absolutlye positioned element). (Issue #428)
- Fix a processing error with elements that contain hyperlinks. (Issue #364)
- Try to isolate MathJax from CSS transitions. (Issue #449)
- Go back to using em’s (rounded to nearest pixel) for Chrome. Rounding makes the placement work more reliably, while still being in relative units. (Issue #443)
- Prevent error when math contains characters outside of the MathJax fonts. (Issue #441)
- Make final math size be in relative units so that it prints even if print media has a different font size. (Issue #386)
- Don’t scale line thickness for
mencloseelements (so lines won’t disapear in scripts). (Issue #414) - Fix
fontdata.jsto allow it to be included in combined configuration files. (Issue #413) - Makes math-based tooltips be spaced properly when rendered. (Issue #412)
- Fix Math Processing Error when
⁡ is used without preceeding content. (Issue #410) - Fix a problem using an empty table as a super- or subscript. (Issue #392)
- Handle the case where selection in maction is invalid or out of range. (Issue #365)
- Add a pixel extra around the SVG output to accommodate antialiasing pixels. (Issue #383)
- Fix Math Processing Error for
msubsup/msub/msupelements. - Limit the number of repetition to build stretchy chars in HTML-CSS. (Issue #366)
- Fix Math Processing Error in
mmultiscripts/menclose. (Issue 362)
Interface:¶
- Make zoom work properly with expressions that have full width (e.g., tagged equations).
- Handle zooming when it is inside a scrollable element when it is not the main body element. (Issue #435)
- Update math processing errors to include original format and actual error message in the “Show Math As” menu. (Issue #450)
- Add a Help dialog box (rather than link to mathjax.org).
- Remove the v1.0 configuration warning. (Issue #445)
- Trap errors while saving cookies (and go on silently). (Issue #374)
- Fix typo in IE warning message. (Issue #397)
- Use UA string sniffing for identifying Firefox and handle detecting mobile versions better.
- Make MathML source show non-BMP characters properly. (Issue #361)
- Make tool tips appear above zoom boxes. (Issue #351)
Miscellaneous:¶
- Allow preview for preprocessors to be just a plain string (rather
than requiring
[string]). - Remap back-tick to back-quote. (Issue #402)
- Handle script tags in
HTML.Element()so they work in IE. (Issue #342) - Add the
MathJax_Previewclass to theignoreClasslist so thattex2jaxandasciimath2jaxwon’t process previews accidentally. (Issue #378) - Fix processing errors with various table and menclose attributes. (Issue #367)
- Use
hasOwnProperty()when checking file specification objects (prevents problems whenObject.prototypehas been modified). (Issue #352)
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v2.1¶
MathJax v2.1 is primarily a bug-fix release. Numerous display bugs, line-breaking problems, and interface issues have been resolved. The following lists indicate the majority of the bugs that have been fixed for this release.
Interface¶
- Make NativeMML output properly handle iOS double-tap-and-hold, and issue warning message when switching to NativeMML output.
- Use
scrollIntoViewto handlepositionToHashrather than setting the document location to prevent pages from refreshing after MathJax finishes processing the math. - Handle positioning to a hash URL when the link is to an element within SVG output.
- Make
href’s work in SVG mode in all browsers. - Fix problem with opening the “Show Math As” window in WebKit (affected Chrome 18, and Safari 5.1.7).
- Use MathJax message area rather than window status line for
mactionwithactiontype='statusline'to avoid security restrictions in some browsers. - Fix issue where zoom box for math that has been wrapped to the beginning of a line would be positioned at the end of the previous line.
- Fix a problem where IE would try to typset the page before it was completely available, causing it to not typeset all the math on the page (or in some cases any of the math).
- Allow decimal scale values in the dialog for setting the scale.
- Fix SVG output so that setting the scale will rescale the existing mathematics.
- Add close button to About box and don’t make clicking box close it (only clicking button).
- Make About box show ‘woff or otf’ when otf fonts are used (since both are requested).
- Have output jax properly skip math when the input jax has had an internal failure and so didn’t produce any element jax.
- Produce
MathJax.Hubsignal when[Math Processing Error]is generated.
Line-breaking¶
- Fix problem with SVG output disappearing during line breaks when equation numbers are also present.
- Fix problem with potential infinite loop when an
<mspace>is an embellished operator that causes a linebreak to occur. - Allow line breaks within the base of
<msubsup>to work so that the super and subscripts stay with the last line of the base. - Fix
<mfenced>so that when it contains a line break the delimiters and separators are not lost. - Allow line breaks at delimiters and separators in <mfenced> elements.
- Fix issue with line breaking where some lines were going over the maximum width.
- Fix problem with line breaking inside
<semantics>elements. - Fix problem with line breaking where the incorrect width was being used to determine breakpoint penalties, so some long lines were not being broken.
HTML-CSS/SVG display¶
- Fix several Chrome alignment and sizing issues, including problems with horizontal lines at the tops of roots, fraction bars being too long, etc.
- Resolve a problem with how much space is reserved for math equations when a minimum font size is set in the browser.
- Force final math span to be remeasured so that we are sure the container is the right size.
- Fix alignment problem in
<msubsup>. - Fix processing error when rowalign has a bad value.
- Fix a vertical placement problem with stretched elements in mtables in HTML-CSS, and improve performace for placeing the extension characters.
- Handle spacing for U+2061 (function apply) better.
- Better handling of primes and other pseudo scripts in HTML-CSS and SVG output.
- Fixed a problem with
<mmultiscripts>in SVG mode that caused processing error messages. - Fix misplaced
\vecarrows in Opera and IE. - Make
<mi>with more than one letter havetexClassOP rather than ORD in certain cases so it will space as a function. - Make HTML snippet handler accept a string as contents, even if not enclosed in braces.
- Fix spacing for functions that have powers (e.g.,
\sin^2 x). - Fix problem with SVG handling of
\liminfand\limsupwhere the second half of the function name was dropped. - Fixed a problem where HTML-CSS and SVG output could leave partial equations in the DOM when the equation processing was interrupted to load a file.
- Fix problems with
<mtable>,<ms>, and<mmultiscripts>which weren’t handling styles. - Make column widths and row heights take minsize into account in
<mtable>. - Fix typo in
handle-floats.jsthat caused it to not compile. - Fix problem in HTML-CSS output with
<msubsup>when super- or subscript has explicit style.
TeX emulation¶
- Allow negative dimensions for
\\[]but clip to 0 since this isn’t really allowed in MathML. - Fixed problem where \ with whitespace followed by [ would incorrectly be interpretted as \[dimen].
- Make
jsMath2jaxrun before other preprocessors so thattex2jaxwon’t grab environments from inside the jsMath spans and divs before jsMath2jax sees them. - Fix issue with
\vecnot producing the correct character for\vec{\mathbf{B}}and similar constructs. - Combine multiple primes into single unicode characters.
- Updated the unicode characters used for some accents and a few other characters to more appropriate choices. See issues #116, #119, and #216 in the MathJax issue tracker on GitHub.
- Remove unwanted ‘em’ from
eqnarray columnwidthvalues. - Make eqnarray do equation numbering when numbering is enabled.
- Make vertical stretchy characters stand on the baseline, and improve spacing of some stretchy chars.
- Make
mtextFontInherituse the style and weight indicated in the math, so that\textbfand\textitwill work properly. - Add
\textcolormacro to the color extension. - Added RGB color model to the color extension.
- Automatically load the AMSmath extension when needed by the
mhchemextension. - Add
<<=>arrow tomhchecmextension - Fix alignment of prescripts in
mhchemto properly right-justify the scripts. - Expose the CE object in the
mhchemextension. - Make
autoload-allskip extensions that are already loaded, and not redefine user-defined macros. - Fix most extensions to not overwrite user defined macros when the extension is loaded.
- Ignore
\label{}with no label. - Make
\injlimand friends produce single<mi>elements for thier names rather than one for each letter. - Handle primes followed by superscript as real TeX does in TeX input jax.
- Handle a few more negations (e.g., of arrows) to produce the proper Unicode points for these.
- Don’t produce a processing error when
\limitsis used without a preceding operator.
MathML Handling¶
- Prevent align attribute on
<mtable>from applying to<mover>/<munder>/<munderover>elements. - Ignore
_moz-math-*attributes in MathML input so they don’t appear in MathML output. - Prevent duplicate
xmlnsattributes in “Show Math As -> MathML”. - Fixed a problem in MathML output where dimensions given to
<mpadded>with leading +’s could lose the plus and become absolute rather than relative. - Fix
setTeXclassforTeXatomso that it handles the spacing for relations correctly. - Add more CSS to isolate
NativeMMLoutput from page. - Handle setup of MathPlayer better for IE10, and avoid some IE10 bugs in setting the document namespace for MathML.
Fonts¶
- Fix a problem where bold-script didn’t work properly in STIX fonts.
- Work around Chrome bug with MathJax web fonts that affects some combining characters.
- Remove dependencies of TeX->MathML conversion on the choice of fonts (TeX versus STIX).
- For stretchy characters that don’t have a single-character version in the MathJax fonts, make sure they are properly sized when not stretched or stretched to a small size.
- Fix an error with
U+u005E(^) which caused it to show as a plus when used as a stretchy accent. - Fix a problem with greek letters in STIX font producing the wrong letter (an offset was off by one).
- Handle more characters in sans-serif-italic and bold-italic STIX fonts.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v2.0¶
MathJax version 2.0 includes many new and improved features, including much better speeds in Internet Explorer, a new AsciiMath input processor, a new SVG output processor, support for additional LaTeX commands, and many bug fixes, to name just a few of the changes.
Major speed improvement for HTML-CSS output, particularly in IE¶
The HTML-CSS output processing was redesigned to avoid the page reflows that were the main source of the speed problem in Internet Explorer 8 and 9. For test pages having between 20 and 50 typeset expressions, we see an 80% reduction in output processing time for IE8, a 50% reduction for IE9, and between 15% and 25% reduction for most other browsers over the corresponding v1.1a times. Since the processing time in v1.1a grows non-linearly in IE, you should see even larger savings for pages with more equations when using v2.0. Forcing IE7 emulation mode is no longer necessary (and indeed is no longer recommended).
Reduced flickering during typsetting¶
In the past, each expression was displayed as soon as it was typeset,
which caused a lot of visual flickering as MathJax processed the page.
In v2.0, the output is processed in blocks so that typeset expressions
are revealed in groups. This reduces the visual distraction, and also
speeds up the processing. The number of equations in a block can be
controlled through the EqnChunk parameter in the HTML-CSS or SVG
block of your configuration. See the configuration options for
HTML-CSS and configuration options for SVG pages for details.
If the page URL includes a hash reference (a link to a particular
location within the page), MathJax v2.0 will jump to that location
after the page has finished typsetting. (Since the size of the page
may have changed due to the mathematical typsetting, that location may
no longer be visible on screen, so MathJax moves there when it is done
with the initial typesetting.) You can control this behavior with the
positionToHash parameter in the main section of your
configuration. See the core configuration options page for details.
Automatic equation numbering of TeX formulas¶
The TeX input jax now can be configured to add equation numbers
(though the default is not to number equations so that existing pages
will not change their appearance). This is controlled through the
equationNumbers section of the TeX block of your configuration
(see the equation numbering section for
details). You can request that the numbering follow the AMS-style
numbering of environments, or you can request that every displayed
equation be numbered. There are now \label, \ref, and
\eqref commands to make it easier to link to particular equations
within the document.
Automatic line breaking of long displayed equations¶
MathJax now implements the MathML3 specification for automatic line
breaking of displayed equations in its HTML-CSS output. This is
disabled by default, but can be enabled via the linebreaks section
of the HTML-CSS or SVG block of your configuration (see the
automatic line breaking section for
details). Note that automatic line breaking only applies to displayed
equations, not in-line equations, unless they are themselves longer
than a line. The algorithm uses the nesting depth, the type of
operator, the size of spaces, and other factors to decide on the
breakpoints, but it does not know the meaning of the mathematics, and
may not choose the optimal breakpoints. We will continue to work on
the algorithm as we gain information from its actual use in the field.
New AsciiMath input jax and SVG output jax¶
MathJax currently processes math in either TeX and LaTeX format, or MathML notation; version 2.0 augments that to include AsciiMath notation (see the ASCIIMathML home page for details on this format). This is a notation that is easier for students to use than TeX, and has been requested by the user community. See the AsciiMath support page for details.
In addition to the HTML-CSS and Native MathML output available in v1.1, MathJax v2.0 includes an SVG-based output jax. This should prove to be more reliable than the HTML-CSS output, as it avoids some CSS, web-font, and printing issues that the HTML-CSS output suffers from, and it currently has no browser-dependent code. The SVG mode even works in some ebook readers (like Apple iBooks and Calibre). See the output formats documentation for details.
New combined configuration files¶
Pre-defined configuration files that include the AsciiMath and SVG
processors are now available with MathJax v2.0. These include
AM_HTMLorMML, TeX-AMS-MML_SVG, and TeX-MML-AM_HTMLorMML.
See the common configurations section for details.
Improved support for screen readers¶
Some issues surrounding the use of screen readers and their interaction with MathPlayer have been resolved in MathJax v2.0. In particular, there are additional menu items that allow the user finer control over some aspects of MathJax’s interface that were interfering with some screen readers’ ability to properly identify the mathematics. Several stability issues with MathPlayer have also been addressed. In Internet Explorer when MathPlayer is installed, there is now a new contextual menu item to allow you to specify what events are handled by MathJax and what should be handled by MathPlayer. This gives you finer control over MathPlayer’s interaction with some screen readers.
Many new TeX additions and enhancements¶
- New mhchem chemistry extension (adds
\ce,\cf, and\ceemacros) - New cancel extension (adds
\cancel,\bcancel,\xcancel, and\canceltomacros) - New extpfeil extension (adds more stretchy arrows)
- New color extension (makes
\colorwork as a switch, as in LaTeX). Adds\definecolor, other color models, LaTeX named colors,\colorbox,\fcolorbox, etc. - New begingroup extension to allow macro definitions to be
localized. Adds
\begingroupand\endgroupfor isolating macro declarations, and defines\let,\renewenvironment,\global, and\gdef. - New enclose extension to give TeX access to
<menclose>elements. Adds\enclose{type}[attributes]{math}macro. - New action extension to give TeX access to
<maction>elements. Adds\mathtip{math}{tip},\texttip{math}{tip}, and\toggle{math1}{math2}...\endtogglemacros. - New
\mmToken{type}[attributes]{text}macro for producing<mo>,<mi>,<mtext>, and other token MathML elements directly. - New
\bbox[color;attributes]{math}macro to add background color, padding, borders, etc. - New
\middlemacro for stretchy delimiters between\leftand\right. - New
\label,\ref, and\eqrefmacros for numbered equations. - Better implementation of
\notso it produces proper MathML when possible. - Better implementation of
\dotsthat selects\ldotsor\cdotsdepending on the context. - Better implementation of
\casesthat automatically uses\texton the second entry in each row. - Safer implementation of
\requirethat only allows loading from extensions directory. - Allow
\newcommandto provide a default parameter. - Allow
\\to take an optional argument that specifies additional space between lines. - Allow
\\to be used anywhere (to force a line break), not just in arrays. - Allow optional alignment parameter for array, aligned, and gathered environments.
See the TeX support page for details on these extensions and macros.
Font enhancements¶
- Work around for the OS X Lion STIX font problem.
- Support for STIX-1.1 fonts (detection of which version you have, and use data appropriate for that).
- New WOFF versions of the web fonts (smaller, so faster to download).
- Data for more stretchy characters in HTML-CSS output.
- Add support for Unicode planes 1 through 10 (not just the Math Alphabet block) in HTML-CSS output.
- Increased timeout for web fonts (since it was switching to image fonts too often, especially for mobile devices).
- Only switch to image fonts if the first web font fails to load (if we can access one, assume we can access them all).
- Allow
<mtext>elements to use the page font rather than MathJax fonts (optionally). This is controlled by themtextFontInerhitconfiguration parameter for HTML-CSS and SVG output jax. - Provide better control over the font used for characters that are not in the MathJax fonts.
- Allow Firefox to use web-based fonts when a local URL uses MathJax from a cdn (in the past it would force image fonts when that was not necessary).
Interface improvements¶
- The MathJax contextual menu has been reorganized to make it easier to get the source view, and to control the parameters for MathPlayer in IE.
- The MathJax contextual menu is available in mobile devices (see description above).
- Warning messages are issued if you switch renderers to one that is inappropriate for your browser.
- MathJax now starts processing the page on the
DOMContentLoadedevent rather than the pageonloadevent (this allows the mathematics to appear sooner). - Native MathML output is now scaled to better match the surrounding font (like it is for HTML-CSS output).
- Better CSS styling for NativeMML output in Firefox in order to
handle
\caland other fonts. - MathML output now (optionally) includes class names to help mark special situations generated by the TeX input jax. (This lets the MathML from the Show Source menu item better reproduce the original TeX output.)
- MathJax now loads the menu and zoom code (if they haven’t been loaded already) after the initial typesetting has occured so that they will be available immediately when a user needs those features, but do not delay the initial typesetting of the mathematics.
- For the tex2jax preprocessor, the
processClasscan now be used to override theskipTagsto force a tag that is usually skipped to have its contents be processed. - The noErrors and noUndefined extensions can now be disabled via a configuration option (since they are included in many of the combined configuration files). See the noErrors and noUndefined sections of the TeX support page for more information.
- There is a new
MathJax.Hub.setRenderer()function that can be used to switch the current renderer. See the MathJax Hub API documentation for details. - A user-defined macros is no longer overridden if an extension is loaded that redefines that macro.
- Improved web-font detection reliability.
Important changes from previous versions¶
The default renderer for Firefox has been changed from NativeMML to HTML-CSS (in those configurations that choose between the two). The only browser that defaults to NativeMML is now IE with MathPlayer installed. You can configure this to your liking using the MMLorHTML configuration options.
NativeMML output will now be selected in IE9 when MathPlayer is present (since IE9 was released the same day as MathJax v1.1a, and there had been problems with IE9 beta releases, we weren’t sure if MathPlayer would work with the official release, and so did not select NativeMML by default.)
The performance improvements in IE8 and IE9 now make it unnecessary to use a
<meta>tag to force IE7 emulation mode. In fact IE9 in IE9 standards mode now runs faster than IE9 in IE7 standards mode, and IE8 in IE8 standards mode is comparable to IE8 in IE7 standards mode. We now recommend that you use<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
to obtain the highest emulation mode available in IE, which will be the fastest one for MathJax 2.0.
The tex2jax preprocessor now balances braces when looking for the closing math delimiter. That allows expressions like
$y = x^2 \hbox{ when $x > 2$}$
to be properly parsed as a single math expression rather than two separate ones with unbalanced braces. The old behavior can be obtained by setting
balanceBracesto false in thetex2jaxblock of your configuration. (See the tex2jax configuration options for details.)If you are hosting your own copy of MathJax on your server, and that copy is being used from pages in a different domain, you will have set up the access control paramters for the font directory to allow Firefox to access the font files properly. Since MathJax 2.0 includes fonts in WOFF format, you will need to include
woffin you access control declaration for the fonts. E.g., use<FilesMatch "\.(ttf|otf|eot|woff)$"> <IfModule mod_headers.c> Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*" </IfModule> </FilesMatch>
in the
.htaccess` file for the ``Mathjax/fontsdirectory if you are using the Apache web server. See Notes about shared installations for details.The
\casesmacro now properly places the second column in text mode not math mode. In the past, one needed to use\textin the second column to achieve the proper results; pages that did this will still work properly in v2.0. Pages that took advantage of the math mode in the second column will need to be adjusted.The
\dotsmacro now produces\ldotsor\cdotsdepending on the context (in the past,\dotsalways produced\ldots).A one pixel padding has been added above and below HTML-CSS and SVG output so that math on successive lines of a paragraph won’t bump into each other.
There is a new MathPlayer submenu of the Math Settings menu in the MathJax contextual menu that allows the user to control what events are passed on to MathPlayer. This allows better control for those using assistive devices like screen readers. When menu events are being passed on to MathPlayer, the MathJax menu can be obtained by ALT-clicking on a typeset expression (so the user can still access MathJax’s other features).
In order to improve stability with IE when MathPlayer is installed, MathJax now adds the namespace and object bindings that are needed for MathPlayer at the time that Mathjax is first loaded, rather than waiting for the NativeMML output jax to be loaded. Since this is before the configuration information has been obtained, this will happen regardless of whether the NativeMML output jax is requested. This means that IE may ask the user to allow MathPlayer to be used, and may show the MathPlayer splash dialog even when MathPlayer is not in the end used by MathJax. Note that this setup can only be performed if MathJax is loaded explicitly as part of the initial web page; if it is injected into the page later by adding a
<script>tag to the page dynamically, then MathPlayer will be set up when the NativeMML jax is loaded as in the past, and some stability issues may occur if events are passed to MathPlayer.The MathJax typesetting is now started on
DOMContentLoadedrather than at the pageonloadevent, when possible, so that means MathJax may start typesetting the page earlier than in the past. This should speed up typesetting one pages with lots of images or side-bar content, for example.MathJax now attempts to determine whether the page’s
onloadevent had already occurred, and if it has, it does not try to wait for theDOMContentLoadedoronloadevent before doing its initial typeset pass. This means that it is no longer necessary to callMathJax.Hub.Startup.onload()by hand if you insert MathJax into the page dynamically (e.g., from a GreaseMonkey script).If the page URL includes a hash reference (a link to a particular location within the page), MathJax v2.0 will jump to that location after the page has finished typsetting. Since the size of the page may have changed due to the mathematical typsetting, that location may no longer be visible on screen, so MathJax moves there when it is done with the initial typesetting. You can control this behavior with the
positionToHashparameter in the main section of your configuration (see core configuration options).In the event that MathJax is not able to load the configuration file you have specified in the script tag that loads
MathJax.jsviaconfig=filename, it will no longer issue the warning message about a missing configuration. The configuration process changed in v1.1, and that message was to help page maintainers update their configurations, but it turns out that for users with slow network connections, MathJax could time out waiting for the configuration file and would issue the warning message in that case, even though the page included the proper configuration. That should no longer occur in MathJax v2.0.
Other enhancements¶
- Use prioritized lists of callbacks for StartupHooks, MessageHooks, LoadHooks, PreProcessors, and pre- and post-filters on the input jax.
- Updated operator dictionary to correspond to current W3C version.
- Improved browser detection for Gecko and WebKit browsers.
- Make prefilters and postfilters for all input jax, and make them into hook lists rather than a single hook.
- Use
<mi>rather than<mo>for\sin,\cos, and other such functions, for\mathop{\rm...}and\operatorname. - Add
⁡after\mathop{}and other macros that are functions (e.g.,\sin). - The
MathJax_Previewstyle has been moved fromHTML-CSS/jax.jstoMathJax.js, since it is common to all output. - The autobold extension now uses
\boldsymbolrather than\bfso that it will affect more characters. - Make units of
mu’s be relative to the scriptlevel (as they are supposed to be). - Reorganized the event-handling code to make it more modular and reduce redundancy in the different output jax.
- Modified CSS in NativeMML output for Firefox to use local copies of the web fonts, if they are available.
- Error messages now have the MathJax contextual menu.
- Better handling of some characters not in the web fonts (remap to locations where they exist, when possible).
- Better choice of accent characters in some cases.
- Better handling of pseudo-scripts (like primes).
- Better sizing of characters introduced by
\unicode{}, or otherwise outside of the fonts known to MathJax. - Provide a new extension to handle tagged equations better in HTML-CSS output when there are floating elements that might reduce the area available to displayed equations. (See the HTML-CSS extensions section of the output formats documentation for detais.)
- Use a text font for
\itrather than the math italics, so spacing is better. - Handle italic correction better in HTML-CSS output
- Handle
hrefattributes better, especially when on<math>elements. - Allow
\sqrt\frac{}{}without producing an error.
Other bug fixes¶
- MathPlayer setup changed to prevent crashes.
- Moved remapping of
<mo>contents to the output jax so that the original contents aren’t changed. - Don’t combine
mathvariantwithfontstyleorfontweight(as per the MathML specification). - Isolate non-standard attributes on MathML elements so that they don’t interfere with the inner workings of MathJax.
- Properly handle width of border and padding in merrors in HTML-CSS output.
- Properly handle lower-case Greek better.
- Process weight and style of unknown characters properly.
- Fixed spacing problems with
\congin MathJax web fonts . - Choose better sizes for
\widehatand\widetilde - Fixed problem with detecting em/ex sizes when uses in mobile devices with small screen widths.
- Fixed MathML output when dimensions of
mu’s are used in TeX input. - Better handling of table borders from TeX.
- Fixed some problems with table widths and heights, and spacing.
- Better handling of colored backgrounds in HTML-CSS output.
- Handle border and padding CSS styles better in HTML-CSS output.
- Fixed multline environment to put tags on bottom row when
TagSideis set toright. - Force reflow after equations are typeset so that some rendering problems in tables are corrected in Firefox and WebKit browsers.
- Fixed a number of bugs with the size of zoom boxes and the size of their content.
- Have equations with tags zoom into a full-width zoom box to accommodate the tag.
- Fixed positioning problem with zoom boxes in NativeMML mode.
- Don’t allow mouse events on zoomed math.
- Fixed
MathJax.Hub.getJaxFor()andMathJax.Hub.isJax()to properly handle elements that are part of an output jax’s output (in particular, you can find the element jax from any DOM element in the output). - Fixed a number of font anomalies (problems in the data files).
- Fixed problem where
<mspace>with a background color would not always overlay previous items. - Fixed a problem with colored
<mspace>elements being too tall in IE/quirks mode. - Fixed problem where
<mtable>withequalrows="true"would not produce equal height rows. - Allow
<mpadded>background color to be specified exactly (i.e., without the 1px padding) when one of its dimensions is given explicitly (or there is no content). - Avoiding flicker problem with hover zoom trigger in Firefox.
- Fix
\unicodebug with font names that include spaces. - Remove internal multiple spaces in token elements as per the MathML specification.
- Work around HTML5 removing namespaces, so that
xmlns:xlinkbecomesxlinkwith no namespace, which confuses the XML parsers. - Fix
MathJax.Message.Set()andMathJax.Message.Clear()so that a delay of 0 is properly handled. - Produce better MathML for
\bmod,\mod, and\pmod. - Don’t allow Safari/Windows to use STIX fonts since it can’t access characters in Plane1 (the mathematical alphabets).
- Fix
\thickapproxto use the correct glyph in HTML-CSS output with MathJax web fonts. - Make style attributes work on
<mstyle>elements. - Better handling of border and padding on MathML elements in HTML-CSS output.
- Fixed error with size of
\:space. - Allow delimiter of
.on\genfrac(it was accidentally rejected). - Handle AMSmath control sequences with stars better (
\cs{*}no longer counts as\cs*). - Fixed wrong character number in stretchy data for U+221A.
- Fixed
<annotation-xml>to use the proper scaling in HTML-CSS output. - Fixed a problem with combining characters when they are used as accents.
- Fixed a problem in Firefox with
\mathchoicewhen the contents have negative width. - TeX input jax no longer incorrectly combines
<mo>elements that have different variants, styles, classes, or id’s. - Fixed the
scriptlevelwhen<munderover>has base withmovablelimits="true"in non-display mode. - Fixed typo in implementation of
SimpleSUPER. - Fixed typo in self-closing flag for
<mprescript>tag. - Prevent infinite loop if one of the jax fails to load (due to failure to compile or timeout waiting for it to load).
- Fixed a whitespace issue in token elements with IE/quirks mode in the MathML input jax.
- Make sure height is above depth when making spaces and rules in HTML-CSS and SVG output.
- Fixed HTML-CSS tooltip to be work properly when a restart occurs within the tooltip.
- Fixed problem with size of colored backgrounds on
<mo>in some circumstances in HTML-CSS output. - Make
\ulcorner, etc. use more approprate unicode positions, and remap those positions to the locations in the MathJax web fonts.
Some technical changes¶
- Break the processing phase into two separate phases to do input
processing separately from output processing (they used to be
interleaved). This makes it easier to implement forward references
for the
\refmacro. - Make
Font Preferencemenu honor theimageFontsetting. - Changed the name of the preview filter commands to
previewFilterin all preprocessors. - Make
^and_be stretchy even though that isn’t in the W3C dictionary. - Fixed HTML-CSS output problem when a multi-character token element has characters taken from multiple fonts.
- Force message text to be black in FontWarnings and configuration warnings.
- Added
Find()andIndexOf()commands to menus to locate menu items. - Added menu signals for post/unpost and activation of menu items.
- Added signals for typesetting of unknown characters.
- Added signals for zoom/unzoom.
- Added More signals for error conditions.
- Allow preferences to select MathML output for Safari with late enough version.
- Improved About MathJax box.
- Have tex2jax handle empty delimiter arrays and don’t scan page if there is nothing to look for.
- Make delay following a processing message configurable and lengthen it to make browser more responsive during typesetting.
- Make thin rules be in pixels to try to improve results in IE (disappearing division lines).
- Mark all output elements as
isMathJax, so it can be used to identify what elements are part of mathematical output. - Force MathZoom and MathMenu to wait for the
Begin Stylesmessage before inserting their styles so when they are included in the combined files, the author can still configure them. - Add default id’s to the jax base object classes.
- Mark top-level math element as having a
texErrorwhen it is one (to make it easier to recognize). - Have
Update()method ask ElementJax to determine if it needs updating (which in turn asks the associated input jax). - Make
Remove()work for just clearing output (without detaching) if desired. - Have ElementJax store input and output jax ID’s rather than pointers (to help avoid circular references for cleanup purposes).
- Move input/output jax and preprocessor registries from
Hub.configto Hub itself (they are not user configurable throughHub.Config, and so even though they are configurations, they don’t belong there). - Make sure embelished large ops are type
OPnotORDto get spacing right. - Added
MathJax.HTML.getScript()to get the contents of a script (needed since it works differently in different browsers). - Move code that prevents numbers from being treated as a unit for
super- and subscripts to the super- and subscript routine in the
TeX input jax (prevents making changes to
\text{},\hbox{},\href{}, etc.). - Make mml2jax work better with IE namespaces (IE9 no longer seems to
list the
xmlnsentries on the<html>element).
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
What’s New in MathJax v1.1¶
MathJax version 1.1 includes a number of important improvements and enhancements over version 1.0. We have worked hard to fix bugs, improve support for browsers and mobile devices, process TeX and MathML better, and increase MathJax’s performance.
In addition to these changes, MathJax.org now offers MathJax as a network service. Instead of having to install MathJax on your own server, you can link to our content delivery network (CDN) to get fast access to up-to-date and past versions of MathJax. See Loading MathJax from a cdn for more details.
The following sections outline the changes in v1.1:
Optimization¶
- Combined configuration files that load all the needed files in one piece rather than loading them individually. This simplifies configuration and speeds up typesetting of the mathematics on the page.
- Improved responsiveness to mouse events during typesetting.
- Parallel downloading of files needed by MathJax, for faster startup times.
- Shorter timeout for web fonts, so if they can’t be downloaded, you don’t have to wait so long.
- Rollover to image fonts if a web font fails to load (so you don’t have to wait for every font to fail.
- The MathJax files are now packed only with yuicompressor rather than a custom compressor. a cdn serves gzipped versions, which end up being smaller than the gzipped custom-packed files.
- Improved rendering speed in IE by removing
position:relativefrom the style for mathematics. - Improved rendering speed for most browsers by isolating the mathematics from the page during typesetting (avoids full page reflows).
Enhancements¶
- Allow the input and output jax configuration blocks to specify extensions to be loaded when the jax is loaded (this avoids needing to load them up front, so they don’t have to be loaded on pages that don’t include mathematics, for example).
- Better handling of background color from style attributes.
- Ability to pass configuration parameters via script URL.
- Support HTML5 compliant configuration syntax.
- Switch the Git repository from storing the fonts in fonts.zip to storing the fonts/ directory directly.
- Improved About box.
- Added a minimum scaling factor (so math won’t get too small).
TeX Support¶
- Added support for
\href,\style,\class,\cssId. - Avoid recursive macro definitions and other resource consumption possibilities.
- Fix for
\underlinebug. - Fix for bug with
\fbox. - Fix height problem with
\raiseand\lower. - Fix problem with
\overused inside array entries. - Fix problem with nesting of math delimiters inside text-mode material.
- Fix single digit super- and subscripts followed by punctuation.
- Make sure movablelimits is off for
\underlineand related macros. - Fix problem with dimensions given with
pcunits.
MathML Support¶
- Fix
<and&being translated too early. - Handle self-closing tags in HTML files better.
- Combine adjacent relational operators in
<mo>tags. - Fix entity name problems.
- Better support for MathML namespaces.
- Properly handle comments within MathML in IE.
- Properly consider
<mspace>and<mtext>as space-like. - Improved support for
<maction>with embellished operators.
Other Bug Fixes¶
- Fixed CSS bleed through with zoom and other situations.
- Fixed problems with
showMathMenuMSIEwhen set tofalse. - Replaced illegal prefix characters in cookie name.
- Improved placement of surd for square roots and n-th roots.
- Fixed layer obscuring math from MathPlayer for screen readers.
- Newlines in CDATA comments are now handled properly.
- Resolved conflict between jsMath2jax and tex2jax both processing the same equation.
- Fixed problem with
class="tex2jax_ignore"affecting the processing of sibling elements.
Browser Support¶
Android
- Added detection and configuration for Android browser.
- Allow use of OTF web fonts in Android 2.2.
Blackberry
- MathJax now works with OS version 6.
Chrome
- Use OTF web fonts rather than SVG fonts for version 4 and above.
Firefox
- Added Firefox 4 detection and configuration.
- Fix for extra line-break bug when displayed equations are in preformatted text.
- Updated fonts so that FF 3.6.13 and above can read them.
Internet Explorer
- Changes for compatibility with IE9.
- Fix for IE8 incorrectly parsing MathML.
- Fix for IE8 namespace problem.
- Fix for null
parentNodeproblem. - Fix for
outerHTMLnot quoting values of attributes.
iPhone/iPad
- Added support for OTF web fonts in iOS4.2.
Nokia
- MathJax now works with Symbian3.
Opera
- Prevent Opera from using STIX fonts unless explicitly requested via the font menu (since Opera can’t display many of the characters).
- Fixed bad em-size detection in 10.61.
- Fixed a problem with the About dialog in Opera 11.
Safari
- Use OTF web fonts for Safari/PC.
WebKit
- Better version detection.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Migrating from MathJax v1.0 to v1.1¶
MathJax v1.1 fixes a number of bugs in v1.0, and improves support for new versions of browsers and mobile devices. It includes changes to increase its performance, and to make it more compliant with HTML5. It has more flexible configuration options, and the ability to load configuration files that combine multiple files into a single one to increase loading speed when MathJax starts up. Finally, MathJax.org now offers MathJax as a web service through a distributed “cloud” server.
This document describes the changes you may need to make to your MathJax configurations in order to take advantage of these improvements.
Configuration Changes¶
The main changes that you will see as a page author are in the way that
MathJax can be loaded and configured. If you have been using in-line
configuration by putting a MathJax.Hub.Config() call in the body of
the <script> tag that loads MathJax, then your site should work
unchanged with version 1.1 of MathJax. You may wish to consider moving to
the new HTML5-compliant method of configuring MathJax, however, which uses
a separate <script> tag to specify the configuration. That tag should
come before the one that loads Mathjax.js, and should have
type="text/x-mathjax-config" rather than type="text/javascript".
For example,
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js"]
});
</script>
would become
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js"]
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
instead. This will make sure your pages pass HTML5 validation. Be sure that you put the configuration block before the script that loads MathJax. See Loading and Configuring MathJax for more details.
If your page simply loads MathJax.js and relies on
config/MathJax.js, then you will need to modify your <script> tag
in order to use MathJax v1.1. This is because MathJax no longer loads a
default configuration file; you are required to explicitly specify the
configuration file if you use one. Furthermore, the name of the
config/MathJax.js file was a source of confusion, so it has been
renamed config/default.js instead. Thus, if you used
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
in the past, you should replace it with
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=default"></script>
instead. If you don’t do this, you will receive a warning message that directs you to a page that explains how to update your script tags to use the new configuration format.
Combined Configurations¶
New with version 1.1 is the ability to combine several files into a single configuration file, and to load that via the same script that loads MathJax. This should make configuring MathJax easier, and also helps to speed up the initial loading of MathJax’s components, since only one file needs to be downloaded.
MathJax comes with four pre-built configurations, and our hope is that one
of these will suit your needs. They are described in more detail in the
Using a Configuration File section. To load one,
add ?config=filename (where filename is the name of the
configuration file without the .js) to the URL that loads
MathJax.js. For example
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js","AMSmath.js","AMSsymbols.js"]
});
</script>
could be replaced by the single line
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML"></script>
In this way, you don’t have to include the in-line configuration, and all the needed files will be downloaded when MathJax starts up. For complete details about the contents of the combined configuration files, see the Common Configurations section.
If you want to use a pre-defined configuration file, but want to modify some
of the configuration parameters, you can use both a
text/x-mathjax-config block and a config=filename parameter in
combination. For example,
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)'] ],
processEscapes: true
}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML"></script>
would load the TeX-AMS_HTML configuration file, but would reconfigure
the inline math delimiters to include $...$ in addition to
\(...\), and would set the processEscapes parameter to true.
Loading MathJax from a cdn¶
The MathJax installation is fairly substantial (due to the large number of images needed for the image fonts), and so you may not want to (or be able to) store MathJax on your own server. Keeping MathJax up to date can also be a maintenance problem, and you might prefer to let others handle that for you. In either case, using the MathJax distributed network service may be the best way for you to obtain MathJax. That way you can be sure you are using an up-to-date version of MathJax, and that the server will be fast and reliable.
To use a cdn service, simply load MathJax as follows:
<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</scrip>
Of course, you can load any configuration file that you wish, or use a
text/x-mathajx-config block to configure MathJax in-line.
More details are available, if you need them.
The use of cdn.mathjax.org is governed by its terms of service, so be
sure to read that before linking to a cdn server.
Change in default TeX delimiters¶
In addition to the fact that MathJax v1.1 no longer loads a default
configuration file, there is a second configuration change that could
affect your pages. The config/MathJax.js file properly configured the
tex2jax preprocessor to use only \(...\) and not $...$ for in-line
math delimiters, but the tex2jax preprocessor itself incorrectly
defaulted to including $...$ as in-line math delimiters. The result
was that if you used in-line configuration to specify the tex2jax
preprocessor, single-dollar delimiters were enabled by default, while if
you used file-based configuration, they weren’t.
This inconsistency was an error, and the correct behavior was supposed to have the single-dollar delimiters disabled in both cases. This is now true in v1.1 of MathJax. This means that if you used in-line configuration to specify the tex2jax preprocessor, you will need to change your configuration to explicitly enable the single-dollar delimiters if you want to use them.
For example, if you had
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js"]
});
</script>
and you want to use single-dollar delimiters for in-line math, then you should replace this with
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
jax: ["input/TeX","output/HTML-CSS"],
extensions: ["tex2jax.js"],
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)'] ],
processEscapes: true
}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js"></script>
The same technique can be used in conjunction with a combined configuration file. For example
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
tex2jax: {
inlineMath: [ ['$','$'], ['\\(','\\)'] ],
processEscapes: true
}
});
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/MathJax/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML"></script>
will load the pre-defined TeX-AMS_HTML configuration, but will modify
the settings to allow $...$ delimiters, and to process \$ to
produce dollar signs within the text of the page.
New Distribution Location¶
Version 1.0 of MathJax was distributed through SourceForge, but the
development of MathJax has switched to GitHub, which is now the primary location
for MathJax source code and distributions. The SourceForge repository will
no longer be actively maintained (and hasn’t been since November 2010), and
so you will not be able to obtain updates through svn if you checked
out MathJax from there.
You may be able to switch to using a cdn (see above) rather than
hosting your own copy of MathJax, and avoid the problem of updates all
together. If you must install your own copy, however, you should follow
the instructions at Installing and Testing MathJax,
using either git or svn as described to obtain your copy from
GitHub. This will allow you to keep your copy of MathJax up to date as
development continues.
We apologize for the inconvenience of having to switch distributions, but the git-to-svn bridge we tried to implement to keep both copies in synch turned out to be unreliable, and so the SourceForge distribution was retired in favor of the GitHub site.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Converting to MathJax from jsMath¶
MathJax is the successor to the popular jsMath package for rendering
mathematics in web pages. Like jsMath, MathJax works by locating and
processing the mathematics within the webpage once it has been loaded
in the browser by a user viewing your web pages. If you are using
jsMath with its tex2math preprocessor, then switching to MathJax
should be easy, and is simply a matter of configuring MathJax
appropriately. See the section on Loading and Configuring MathJax for details.
On the other hand, if you are using jsMath’s <span
class="math">...</span> and <div class="math">...</div> tags to
mark the mathematics in your document, then you should use MathJax’s
jsMath2jax preprocessor when you switch to MathJax. To do this,
include "jsMath2jax.js" in the extensions array of your
configuration, with the jax array set to include "input/TeX". For
example,
<script type="text/x-mathjax-config">
MathJax.Hub.Config({
extensions: ["jsMath2jax.js"]
});
</script>
<script
src="https://example.com/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS_HTML">
</script>
would load the jsMath2jax preprocessor, along with a configuration
file that processes TeX input and produces HTML-with-CSS output.
There are a few configuration options for jsMath2jax, which you
can find in the config/default.js file, or in the jsMath
configuration options section.
If you are generating your jsMath documents programmatically, it would be
better to convert from generating the jsMath <span> and <div> tags
to producing the corresponding MathJax <script> tags. You would use
<script type="math/tex"> in place of <span class="math"> and
<script type="math/tex; mode=display"> in place of <div
class="math">. See the section on How mathematics is stored in the
page for more details.
Reference Pages¶
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Describing HTML snippets¶
A number of MathJax configuration options allow you to specify an HTML snippet using a JavaScript object. This lets you include HTML in your configuration files even though they are not HTML files themselves. The format is fairly simple, but flexible enough to let you represent complicated HTML trees.
An HTML snippet is an array consisting of a series of elements that format the HTML tree. Those elements are one of two things: either a string, which represents text to be included in the snippet, or an array, which represents an HTML tag to be included. In the latter case, the array consists of three items: a string that is the tag name (e.g., “img”), an optional object that gives attributes for the tag (as described below), and an optional HTML snippet array that gives the contents of the tag.
When attributes are provided, they are given as name:value pairs, with the name giving the attribute name, and value giving its value. For example
[["img",{src:"/images/mypic.jpg"}]]
represents an HTML snippet that includes one element: an <img> tag
with src set to /images/mypic.jpg. That is, this is
equivalent to
<img src="/images/mypic.jpg">
Note that the snippet has two sets of square brackets. The outermost
one is for the array that holds the snippet, and the innermost set is
because the first (and only) element in the snippet is a tag, not
text. Note that the code ["img",{src:"/images/mypic.jpg"}]
is invalid as an HTML snippet. It would represent a snippet that
starts with “img” as text in the snippet (not a tag), but the second
item is neither a string nor an array, and so is illegal. This is a
common mistake that should be avoided.
A more complex example is the following:
[
"Please read the ",
["a",{href:"instructions.html"},["instructions"]],
" carefully before proceeding"
]
which is equivalent to
please read the <a href="instructions.html">instructions</a> carefully
before proceeding.
A final example shows how to set style attributes on an object:
[["span",
{
id:"mySpan",
style: {color:"red", "font-weight":"bold"}
},
[" This is bold text shown in red "]
]]
which is equivalent to
<span id="mySpan" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">
This is bold text shown in red
</span>
Since HTML snippets contain text that is displayed to users, it may be important to localize those strings to be in the language selected by the user. See the Localization Strings documentation for details of how to accomplish that.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
CSS Style Objects¶
Many MathJax components allow you to specify CSS styles that control
the look of the elements they create. These are described using CSS
style objects, which are JavaScript objects that represent standard
CSS declarations. The main CSS style object is a collection of
name:value pairs where the name is the CSS selector that is being
defined, and the value is an object that gives the style for that
selector. Most often, the selector will need to be enclosed in
quotation marks, as it will contain special characters, so you would
need to use "#myID" rather than just #myID and "ul li"
rather than just ul li.
The value used to define the CSS style can either be a string containing the CSS definition, or a javascript object that is itself a collection of name:value pairs, where the name is the attribute being defined and value is the value that attribute should be given. Note that, since this is a JavaScript object, the pairs are separated by commas (not semi-colons) and the values are enclosed in quotation marks. If the name contains dashes, it should be enclosed in quotation marks as well.
For example, jax/output/HTML-CSS/config.js includes the following
declaration:
styles: {
".MathJax_Display": {
"text-align": "center",
margin: "1em 0em"
},
".MathJax .merror": {
"background-color": "#FFFF88",
color: "#CC0000",
border: "1px solid #CC0000",
padding: "1px 3px",
"font-style": "normal",
"font-size": "90%"
}
}
This defines two CSS styles, one for the selector
.MathJax_Display, which specifies its text alignment and margin
settings, and a second for .MathJax .merror, which specifies a
background color, foreground color, border, and so on.
You can add as many such definitions to a styles object as you
wish. Note, however, that since this is a JavaScript object, the
selectors must be unique (e.g., you can’t use two definitions for
"img", for example, as only the last one would be saved). If you
need to use more than one entry for a single selector, you can add
comments like /* 1 */ and /* 2 */ to the selector to make them
unique.
It is possible to include selectors like "@media print", in which
case the value is a CSS style object. For example:
styles: {
"@media print": {
".MathJax .merror": {
"background-color": "white",
border: 0
}
}
}
The various extensions and output processors include more examples of
CSS style objects, so see the code for those files for additional
samples. In particular, the extensions/MathMenu.js,
extensions/MathZoom.js, extensions/FontWarnsing.js, and
jax/output/HTML-CSS/jax.js files include such definitions.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Localization Strings¶
In MathJax v2.2 and later, the user interface can be localized to use
languages other than English. This includes all information strings,
menu items, warning messages, and so on. To make this possible, each
string is given an ID that is used to obtain the localized version of
the string. So the “File not found” message might have the ID
NotFound. The localization data for each language associates the ID
NotFound with the proper translation of the English phrase “File not
found”.
Some of MathJax’s functions, like MathJax.Message.Set(), can accept
localized strings as their parameters. To use a localized string in
this case, use an array consisting of the ID followed by the English
string (followed by any substitution arguments for the string, see
below). For example,
MathJax.Message.Set(["NotFound","File not found"]);
would cause the “File not found” message to be displayed (in the
currently selected language) in the MathJax message area at the bottom
of left of the browser window. Note that MathJax.Message.Set() can
still accept unlocalized strings, as it has traditionally:
MathJax.Message.Set("File not found");
Here the message will always be in English, regardless of the selected language.
The reason that the English string is also given (in addition to the ID), is because MathJax needs to have a fallback string to use in case the localization data doesn’t translate that ID, or if the localization data has failed to load. Providing the English string in addition to the ID guarantees that a fallback is available.
MathJax’s localization system is documented more fully in the Localization API documentation.
Parameter Substitution¶
Localized messages may need to include information, like file names,
that are not known until the message is needed. In this case, the
message string acts as a template and MathJax will insert the needed
values into it at the appropriate places. To use such substitutions,
you include the values in the localization string array following the
English phrase, and use the special sequences %1, %2, etc., to
refer to the parameters at the locations where they should appear in
the message. For example,
MathJax.Message.Set(["NotFound","File %1 not found",filename]);
would cause the name stored in the variable filename to be
inserted into the localized string at the location of the %1.
Note that the localized string could use the parameters in a different
order from how they appear in English, so MathJax can handle languages
where the word order is different.
Although it would be rare to need more than 9 substitution parameters,
you can use %10, %11, etc., to get the 10-th, 11-th, and so
on. If you need a parameter to be followed directly by a number, use
%{1}0 (rather than %10) to get the first parameter followed
directly by a zero.
A % followed by anything other than a number or a { generates
just the character following the percent sign, so %% would produce
a single %, and %: would produce just :.
Plural forms¶
Some languages handle plural forms differently from how English does. In English, there are two forms: the one used for a single item, and the one used for everything else. For example, you would say “You have one new message” for a single message, but “You have three new messages” of there were three messages (or two, or zero, or anything other than one).
To handle plurals, you use a special “plural” directive within your message string. The format is
%{plural:%n|text1|text2}
where %n is the reference to the parameter (which should be a
number) that controls which text to use. For English, there would be
two texts, one (text1) for when the number is 1, and one
(text2) for when it is anything else. Other languages may have
more forms (e.g., Welsh has six different plural forms, a different
one for 0 (zero), 1 (one), 2 (two), 3 (few), 6 (many), and anything
else, so Welsh translation plural forms would have six different
texts). The details of how to map the numeric value to the text
strings is handled by the translation data for the selected language.
As an example, you might use
MathJax.Message.Set(["NewMessages","You have %1 new %{plural:%1|message|messages}",n]);
where n is a variable holding the number of new messages.
Alternatively,
MathJax.Message.Set(["NewMessages","You have %{plural:%1|a new message|%1 new messages}",n]);
shows how you can do substitution within the plural texts themselves.
Note that the translation string may contain such constructs even if the original English one doesn’t. For example
MathJax.Message.Set(["alone","We are %1 in this family but alone in this World.",n]);
could be translated into French by
"Nous sommes %1 dans cette famille mais %{plural:%1|seul|seuls} en ce monde."
Note that if one of the options for the plural forms requires a literal close brace, it can be quoted with a percent. For instance,
%{plural:%1|One {only%}|Two {or more%}}
would produce One {only} when the first argument is 1, and Two {or
more} otherwise.
If a message needs to include a literal string that looks like one of
these selectors, the original % can be quoted. So %%{plural:%%1|A|B}
would be the literal string %{plural:%1|A|B}.
Number forms¶
Decimal numbers are represented differently in different languages. For example, 3.14159 is an English representation of an approximation to the mathematical constant pi, while in European countries, it would be written 3,14159. MathJax will convert a number to the proper format before inserting it into a localized string. For example
MathJax.Message.Set(["pi","The value of pi is approximately %1",3.14159]);
would show the value as 3.14159 in English, but 3,14159 if
French is the selected language.
ID’s and Domains¶
Because MathJax consists of a number of separate components and can be extended by third party code, it is possible for two different components to want to use the same ID value for a string, leading to an ID name collision. To help avoid this, MathJax allows identifier domains that are used to isolate collections of identifiers for one component from those for another component. For example, each input jax has its own domain, as do many of the MathJax extensions. This means you only have to worry about collisions within your own domain, and so can more easily manage the uniqueness if the ID’s in use.
To use a domain with your ID, replace the ID with an array consisting of the
domain and the ID. For example, the TeX input jax uses the domain
TeX, so
MathJax.Message.Set([["TeX","MissingBrace"],"Missing Close Brace"]);
would set the message to the translation associated with the ID
MissingBrace in the TeX domain.
Some functions that take localization strings automatically prepend the
domain to the ID (if one isn’t already given). For example, the
Error() function of the TeX input jax uses the TeX domain if
one isn’t supplied, so
TEX.Error(["MissingBrace","Missing Close Brace"]);
will generate the MissingBrace error from the TeX domain
without having to specify the TeX domain explicitly.
HTML Snippets¶
MathJax provides a means of specifiying HTML code in javascript called HTML snippets. These frequently include text that needs to be localized, so you can include localization strings (like those described above) within an HTML snippet in any location where you would normally have a regular text string. For example, the snippet
[
"Follow this link: ",
["a",{href:"http://www.mathjax.org"},[
["img",{src:"external.gif"}]
]]
]
includes the text “Follow this link:” which should be localized. You can change it to a localization string to cause it to be translated to the selected langauge:
[
["FollowLink","Follow this link"],": ",
["a",{href:"http://www.mathjax.org"},[
["img",{src:"external.gif"}]
]]
]
(Here we use the ID FollowLink to obtain the translation). Note
that you can include substitution parameters as usual:
[
["ClickMessages","Click for %1 new %{plural:%1|messsage|messages}",n],": ",
["a",{href:"messages.html"},[
["img",{src:"external.gif"}]
]]
]
It is even possible to substitute HTML snippets into a localized string (when it is within an HTML snippet):
[
["MathJaxLink","This is documented at the %1 website",[
["a",{href:"http://docs.mathjax.org"},["MathJax]]
]]
]
Note, however, that a better approach to this exampe is given in the next section.
Since an HTML snippet might contain several strings that need to be
localized, you may want to be able to specify the domain to use for
all the strings within the snippet. Within a snippet, you can use
an entry of the form [domain,snippet] to force the snippet to be
processed with default domain domain. E.g.
[
["TeX",[
["ul",{},[
["li",{},[["MissingBrace","Missing close brace"]]],
["li",{},[["ExtraBrace","Extra close brace"]]],
]]
]],
["MathML",[
["ul",{},[
["li",{},[["UnknownNode","Unknown node type: %1",type]]],
["li",{},[["BadAttribute","Illegal attribute: %1",attr]]],
]]
]
]
would create two undordered lists, one with translations from the
TeX domain, and one from the MathML domain.
To summarize the format of an HTML snippet, it is an array with each entry being one of the following:
- A text string, which becomes text in the resulting HTML; this is untranslated.
- An array of the form
["tag"],["tag",{properties}], or["tag",{properties},HTML-snippet], which becomes the given HTML tag, with the given properties, containing the given HTML-snippet as its children. - An array of the form
[id,message]or[id,message,parameters], which is first translated, then parameter substitution performed, and the result added to the HTML (either as text or as HTML tags if the message included Markdown syntax). Note that theidcan be either an id or an array[domain,id], and that the parameters could be HTML snippets themselves. - An array of the form
[domain,HTML-snippet], which becomes the HTML-snippet with its localizations done from the given domain.
Markdown Notation¶
HTML snippets allow you to create styled markup, like bold or italics,
but this requires breaking the text up into smaller strings that fall
in between HTML tags. That makes it hard to translate, since the
strings are not full phrases. To make the creation of strings with
bold, italics, and hyperlinks easier to localize, MathJax allows the
strings within HTML snippets to be written in a limited Markdown
syntax (very limited). You can use *bold*, **italics**,
***bold-italics***, [link-text](url), and `code` to
obtain bold, italics, bold-italics, hyperlinks, and code blocks. For
instance, the link example above could be more easily handled via
[
["MathJaxLink","This is documented at the [MathJax](%1) website",
"http://docs.mathjax.org"]
]
while
[
["Renderer","*Renderer*: lets you select the output renderer"]
]
will produce the equivalent of <b>Renderer</b>: lets you select the
output render in the appropriate language.
Attention
Version 3 is now the current version of MathJax. This document is for version 2.
Glossary¶
- AsciiMath
A notation for mathematics that uses characters commonly available on all computer keyboards to represent the math in an algebra-like syntax that should be intuitive and easily read.
See also
- Callback
- A JavaScript function that is used to perform actions that must wait for other actions to complete before they are performed.
- Callback Queue
- MathJax uses Queues to synchronize its activity so that actions that operate asynchronously (like loading files) will be performed in the right order. Callback functions are pushed onto the queue, and are performed in order, with MathJax handling the synchronization if operations need to wait for other actions to finish.
- Callback Signal
- A JavaScript object that acts as a mailbox for MathJax events. Like an event handler, but it also keeps a history of messages. Your code can register an “interest” in a signal, or can register a callback to be called when a particular message is sent along the signal channel.
- HTML-CSS
- MathJax output form that relys only on HTML and CSS 2.1, allowing MathJax to remain compatible across all browsers.
- jax
- MathJax’s input and output processors are called “jax”, as is
its internal format manager. The code for the jax are in the
MathJax/jaxdirectory. - LaTeX
LaTeX is a variant of TeX that is now the dominant TeX style.
See also
- Markdown
A text format commonly used in blogs and wikis for creating web pages without the need for complicated markup notation. It is intended to be an easy-to-read and easy-to-write format that still gives you the ability to specify a rich text result (including things like bold, italics, bullet lists, and so on).
See also
- MathML
An XML specification created to describe mathematical notations and capture both its structure and content. MathML is much more verbose than TeX, but is much more machine-readable.
See also
- STIX
The Scientific and Technical Information Exchange font package. A comprehensive set of scientific glyphs.
See also
- SVG
Acronym for Scalable Vector Graphics. SVG is a graphics format that allows images to be described as a collection of graphics objects (like lines, rectangles, etc) rather than as a bitmap of colored pixels. MathJax can use this format to display mathematics as an alternative to its HTML-CSS or NativeMML output.
See also
- TeX
A document markup language with robust math markup commands developed by Donald Knuth in the late 1970’s, but still in extensive use today. It became the industry standard for typesetting of mathematics, and is one of the most common formats for mathematical journals, articles, and books.
See also
This version of the documentation was built May 17, 2022.