latex at visualphysics.org

19 Mar 2009

2 replies [Last post]

Thu, 03/19/2009 - 17:03

doug

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Joined: 03/13/2009

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LaTeX at this site is handled by mathTeX, software written by John Forkosh. This cgi-bin software gets integrated with Drupal the Content Management System (CMS) using a module called math filter. What one needs to do is use the square brace tags, [ ] for tex:

|tex|x^2|/tex| - note: I used a pipe instead so it would print

Below a text entry box, there should be a link for "Input format". Click on that and choose "Full HTML". Once you are done, I highly recommend clicking the "Preview" button at the bottom. Here is the output of the previous tex, without some code tags: x^2 .

If you have some complicated LaTeX to do, go to CodeCogs for a great web-based equation editor. In time I should be able to integrate that with the editor used here. I will update this list with examples, simple and complex, for the kinds of expressions written on these forums.

\frac{a}{n} $\frac{a}{n}$
a \to b $a\to b$
s\,p\:a\;c\!ing $s\,p\:a\;c\!ing$
\int_{0}^{\pi} \beta \sqrt{G} (\nabla A^{\mu} - \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial \, t}) \quad eq ~1 $\int_{0}^{\pi} \beta \sqrt{G} (\nabla A^{\mu} - \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial \, t}) \quad eq ~1$

g_{\mu \nu}=\begin{bmatrix} e^{-\frac{2 GM}{c^2 R}} & 0 & 0 & 0\\ 0 & -e^{\frac{2 GM}{c^2 R}} & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & -R^2 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & -R^2 sin^2 \theta \end{bmatrix} \quad eq ~2
$g_{\mu \nu}=\begin{bmatrix} e^{-\frac{2 GM}{c^2 R}} & 0 & 0 & 0\\ 0 & -e^{\frac{2 GM}{c^2 R}} & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & -R^2 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & -R^2 sin^2 \theta \end{bmatrix} \quad eq ~2$

For people who reply to a post, having equation numbers (\quad eq ~2) helps, and is my personal policy. If it gets more complicated than this, go to CodeCogs.

Wed, 04/29/2009 - 20:44

Lowell

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Joined: 04/25/2009

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Re: latex at visualphysics.org

Dude a technical forum with pretty math, what kinda joint you running here? It's about friggin time! I get so tired of reading posts and having to "decode" the damn equations on a separate piece of paper. I joined only a few days ago, and I'm a-likin it here!

Caradine is cast down and Doug rules as king.

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Lowell

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Lowell

Thu, 04/30/2009 - 05:50

doug

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Joined: 03/13/2009

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Re: latex at visualphysics.org

The joint is being run with Drupal, the kind of crazy bitch with red hair you love and hate at the same time (and if she would stop flashing that much cleavage, it would make things somewhat easier). Out of the box, Drupal does not do this, it looks down right clucky. I installed mathTeX by John Forkosh in the cgi-bin. By calling this program with a LaTeX string, you can see old familiar friends:

http://visualphysics.org/cgi-bin/mathtex.cgi?x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

$x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$

That image can then be downloaded to your computer. Drupal has a filter so when it sees the tex square bracket tag, it runs mathTeX and puts the image inline.

In theory, the tex tags are suppose to be read no matter what "Input format" is chosen, the odd link below each input box. Yet that doesn't appear to work, so one needs to choose full HTML to see the rendered expression. That kind of broken promise is irritating, but I will take that because having good looking equations is worth it.