Help:Displaying a formula

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MediaWiki uses TeX markup for mathematical formulas. It generates either PNG images or simple HTML markup, depending on user prefs and the complexity of the expression. In the future, as more browsers are smarter, it will be able to generate enhanced HTML or even MathML in many cases.

Math markup goes inside <math> ... </math>. Line breaks within these tags are fine, and aren't rendered. They're a good idea to keep the raw markup clear (for instance, a line break after each term or row of a matrix).

Discussion, bug reports and feature requests should go to the Wikitech-l mailing list.

Please avoid using this feature as part of a line of regular text, as the formulas don't align properly and the font is too large.

Regarding color, notice that this page is a special page and has therefore a gray background. Normal MediaWiki pages are white, just like the formulas, so don't worry.

Special characters

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
std. functions (good)	\sin x + \ln y +\operatorname{sgn} z	$\sin x+\ln y+\operatorname {sgn} z$
std. functions (wrong)	sin x + ln y + sgn z	$sinx+lny+sgnz\,$
Derivatives	\nabla \partial dx	$\nabla \partial dx$
Sets	\forall x\not\in\empty\subseteq A\cap B\cup \exists \{x,y\} \times C	$\forall x\not \in \emptyset \subseteq A\cap B\cup \exists \{x,y\}\times C$
Logic	p\wedge \bar{q} \rightarrow p\vee \bar{q} \Rightarrow \Leftrightarrow	$p\wedge {\bar {q}}\rightarrow p\vee {\bar {q}}\Rightarrow \Leftrightarrow$
Root	\sqrt{2}\approx 1.4	${\sqrt {2}}\approx 1.4$
Root	\sqrt[n]{x}	${\sqrt[{n}]{x}}$
Relations	\sim \simeq \cong \le \ge \equiv \approx \ne	$\sim \ \simeq \ \cong \ \leq \ \geq \ \equiv \ \approx \ \neq$
Geometric	\angle \perp \\|	$\angle \perp \\|$
Special	\oplus \otimes \pm \mp \hbar \dagger \ddagger \star \circ \cdot \bullet \infty	$\oplus \otimes \pm \mp \hbar \dagger \ddagger \star \circ \cdot \bullet \ \infty$

Subscripts, superscripts

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
Superscript	a^2	$a^{2}$
Subscript	a_2	$a_{2}$
Grouping	a^{2+2}	$a^{2+2}$
Grouping	a_{i,j}	$a_{i,j}$
Combining sub & super	x_2^3	$x_{2}^{3}$
Derivative (good)	x'	$x'$
Derivative (wrong in HTML)	x^\prime	$x^{\prime }$
Derivative (wrong in PNG)	x\prime	$x\prime$
Sum	\sum_{k=1}^N k^2	$\sum _{k=1}^{N}k^{2}$
Product	\prod_{i=1}^N x_i	$\prod _{i=1}^{N}x_{i}$
Limit	\lim_{n \to \infty}x_n	$\lim _{n\to \infty }x_{n}$
Integral	\int_{-N}^{N} e^x\, dx	$\int _{-N}^{N}e^{x}\,dx$
Line Integral	\oint_{C} x^3\, dx + 4y^2\, dy	$\oint _{C}x^{3}\,dx+4y^{2}\,dy$

Fractions, matrices, multilines

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
Fractions	\frac{2}{4} or {2 \over 4}	${\frac {2}{4}}$
Binomial coefficients	{n \choose k}	${n \choose k}$
Matrices	\begin{pmatrix} x & y \\ z & v \end{pmatrix}	${\begin{pmatrix}x&y\\z&v\end{pmatrix}}$
	\begin{bmatrix} 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & \cdots & 0\end{bmatrix}	${\begin{bmatrix}0&\cdots &0\\\vdots &\ddots &\vdots \\0&\cdots &0\end{bmatrix}}$
	\begin{Bmatrix} x & y \\ z & v \end{Bmatrix}	${\begin{Bmatrix}x&y\\z&v\end{Bmatrix}}$
	\begin{vmatrix} x & y \\ z & v \end{vmatrix}	${\begin{vmatrix}x&y\\z&v\end{vmatrix}}$
	\begin{Vmatrix} x & y \\ z & v \end{Vmatrix}	${\begin{Vmatrix}x&y\\z&v\end{Vmatrix}}$
	\begin{matrix} x & y \\ z & v \end{matrix}	${\begin{matrix}x&y\\z&v\end{matrix}}$
Case distinctions	f(n)=\left\{\begin{matrix} n/2, & \mbox{if }n\mbox{ is even} \\ 3n+1, & \mbox{if }n\mbox{ is odd} \end{matrix}\right.	$f(n)=\left\{{\begin{matrix}n/2,&{\mbox{if }}n{\mbox{ is even}}\\3n+1,&{\mbox{if }}n{\mbox{ is odd}}\end{matrix}}\right.$
Multiline equations	\begin{matrix}f(n+1)&=& (n+1)^2 \\ \ & =& n^2 + 2n + 1\end{matrix}	${\begin{matrix}f(n+1)&=&(n+1)^{2}\\\ &=&n^{2}+2n+1\end{matrix}}$

Fonts

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
Greek letters	\alpha \beta \gamma \Gamma \phi \Phi \Psi\ \tau \Omega	$\alpha \ \beta \ \gamma \ \Gamma \ \phi \ \Phi \ \Psi \ \tau \ \Omega$
Blackboard bold	x\in\mathbb{R}\sub\mathbb{C}	$x\in \mathbb {R} \subset \mathbb {C}$
boldface (vectors)	\mathbf{x}\cdot\mathbf{y} = 0	$\mathbf {x} \cdot \mathbf {y} =0$
boldface (greek)	\boldsymbol{\alpha}+\boldsymbol{\beta}+\boldsymbol{\gamma}	${\boldsymbol {\alpha }}+{\boldsymbol {\beta }}+{\boldsymbol {\gamma }}$
Fraktur typeface	\mathfrak{a} \mathfrak{B}	${\mathfrak {a}}{\mathfrak {B}}$
Script	\mathcal{ABC}	${\mathcal {ABC}}$
Hebrew	\aleph \beth \gimel \daleth	$\aleph \ \beth \ \gimel \ \daleth$
non-italicised characters	\mbox{abc}	${\mbox{abc}}$

Parenthesizing big expressions

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
Not good	( \frac{1}{2} )	$({\frac {1}{2}})$
Better	\left( \frac{1}{2} \right)	$\left({\frac {1}{2}}\right)$

You can use various delimiters with \left and \right:

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
Parentheses	\left( A \right)	$\left(A\right)$
Brackets	\left[ A \right]	$\left[A\right]$
Braces	\left\{ A \right\}	$\left\{A\right\}$
Angle brackets	\left\langle A \right\rangle	$\left\langle A\right\rangle$
Bars	\left\| A \right\|	$\left\|A\right\|$
Use \left. and \right. if you don't want a delimiter to appear:	\left. {A \over B} \right\} \to X	$\left.{A \over B}\right\}\to X$

Spacing

Note that TeX handles most spacing automatically, but you may sometimes want manual control.

Feature	Syntax	How it looks rendered
double quad space	a \qquad b	$a\qquad b$
quad space	a \quad b	$a\quad b$
text space	a\ b	$a\ b$
large space	a\;b	$a\;b$
medium space	a\>b	[not supported]
small space	a\,b	$a\,b$
no space	ab	$ab\,$
negative space	a\!b	$a\!b$

External Links

A PDF document introducing TeX -- see page 39 onwards for a good introduction to the maths side of things: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/gentle/gentle.pdf
Complete reference list of symbols: http://wso.williams.edu/how/lshort2e/node61.html
Can't remember but I put it here so it must be ok ;-) http://www.ams.org/tex/amslatex.html
A set of public domain fixed-size math symbol bitmaps: http://us.metamath.org/symbols/symbols.html