Help:Create a mathematical formula
General info
Folmulas are created by using the markup-language LaTeX, a powerful commonly used language in scientific documents.
As a user, the only thing you need to do is wrap your LaTeX formula within a <math>(formula)</math> tag.
For example:
<math>f(x) = \fract{1}{\alpha^2}</math>
Produces the following formula:
How do I use LaTeX
There is really no need to write a long list of commands in this (local) wiki - mediawiki.org has a nice reference manual.
If you have some experience in mathematical expressions or programming, it will be a quick learn. It's all ablut grouping and marking up symbols.
The examples below gives a hint of what is possible to display.
Parentheses and grouping
Worth mentioning is how you group sub-forumlas in a mathematical expression. You can not use just a parenthensis, but rather a curly bracket. This is because a parenthesis will indeed be displayed as a parenthesis if used in the formula.
The sub-groups will be displayed together when LaTeX renders the formula.
For intsance: if you need to superscript more than a character you need to group those characters within curly brackets. If not, only the first letter will be superscriped.
Code | Display | Comment |
---|---|---|
<math>\alpha^2-z</math> |
No curly brackets - only one character is superscriped. | |
<math>\alpha^{2-z}</math> |
Curly brackets - the whole expression is grouped (and superscriped). | |
<math>\alpha^(2-z)</math> |
Regular parentheses is being displayed normally, with no grouping effect. | |
<math>\alpha^{(2-z)}</math> |
Combine curly brackets with regular parentheses for syntactic and visual grouping. |
Examples
<math>\sum_{m=1}^\infty\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{m^2\,n} {3^m\left(m\,3^n+n\,3^m\right)}</math>
Gives
<math>\phi_n(\kappa) = \frac{1}{4\pi^2\kappa^2} \int_0^\infty \frac{\sin(\kappa R)}{\kappa R} \frac{\partial}{\partial R} \left[R^2\frac{\partial D_n(R)}{\partial R}\right]\,dR</math>
gives
<math> f(x) = \begin{cases} 1 & -1 \le x < 0 \\ \frac{1}{2} & x = 0 \\ 1 - x^2 & \mbox{otherwise} \end{cases} </math>
Gives:
FAQ
How does it work?
MediaWiki produces images for each formula you type. If you change the formula, a new image is created, and the page referres to the new image.
The image is identified by a (system) unique filename, calculated by a hash function (MD5) based on the formula text. This enables a quick translation between the formula-text and the filename.
Will the server be cluttered with images?
Yes and no. There will indeed be lots of images, but these images lies in a dedicated folder and are relatively small - ranging between <1k to 10k.
Isn't there any nice graphical interface to LaTeX?
Some GUI-based programs does exist, but for now you will have to find them yourself. I would suggest you start at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX#External_links