Extension:Math/en

The Math extension provides support for rendering mathematical formulae. An overview of what can currently be done with this extension is found at the English Wikipedia's documentation.

More information about installing and configuring this extension, including for older versions, can be found at.

Viewing math
The Math extension tries to deliver MathML output, with fallback to images in SVG (converting characters to &lt;path>s) or PNG (least preferentially). Depending on the capabilities of the device you are using, the sort of output is chosen. Basic math support works for all browsers. However, for optimal rendering specific tuning may be needed:


 * For Firefox or other Gecko browsers, it is required to install the Native MathML extension and math fonts. Accessibility support is provided by NVDA, VoiceOver or Orca. Additionally, NVDA requires the MathPlayer plugin to read mathematics.
 * For Safari or other WebKit browsers, you may also install math fonts and enable native MathML rendering by inserting some CSS rules into the custom style sheet of your browser preference.

Accessibility support is provided by the VoiceOver screen reader but not by Orca yet.


 * For Chrome you must insert some CSS rules into the custom style sheet of your browser preference in order to get accessibility support via ChromeVox or visual rendering via the MathJax plugin.
 * In some versions of Internet Explorer, it is possible to use MathPlayer as an assistive technology.

Installation
You should additionally go to the page Special:MathStatus to see whether all of the components of the Math extension now work. For any problems you see, the best option is to create a task on https://phabricator.wikimedia.org

Unfortunately, there is no well tested guide on installing and  to work with the Math extension, but there is at least a working draft. please contribute.

In addition, there is a Guide for Installing and Setting up Mediawiki with Restbase and Mathoid in MW1.28.

Math output modes
The setting $wgMathValidModes holds an array with the names of output modes that can be used for rendering. If multiple modes are enabled, logged-in users can set a personal preference in the appearance pane of their user preferences page.

You can also use the $wgDefaultUserOptions setting to set which of these modes should be the default, e.g.:

Mathoid
Mode: 'mathml' (pre-July 2015: MW_MATH_MATHML)

For MW 1.23 and higher, you can use a Mathoid server that uses MathJax to convert texvc input on the server side to MathML+SVG rendering. This is the most recommended option; Mathoid is the rendering mode that will be used on Wikipedia in the future.

Mathoid as a service
To use Mathoid as a service, resulting in performance benefits, the following settings are recommended:

See Mathoid for instructions on how to run your own Mathoid server. Note that as of March 2017 this is likely to also require a server/installation (see ).

Mathoid's CLI interface
To use Mathoid's CLI interface, which is possibly easier to set up and resulting in less permanent memory consumption, while degrading performance, the following settings are recommended:

LaTeX
Mode: 'png' (pre-July 2015: MW_MATH_PNG)

This is the mode that requires the most setup work, since at least the utility has to be installed for it to work, and ideally  as well. See for how to install both of these.

LaTeXML
Mode: 'latexml' (pre-July 2015: MW_MATH_LATEXML)

Uses the LaTeXML utility. The rendering is done via an online service (set with $wgLaTeXMLUrl, which has a default value).

No rendering
Mode: 'source', (pre-July 2015: MW_MATH_SOURCE)

This mode will forward the Latex input without rendering, presenting it in a element, surrounded by $ :formula $.

Make sure to set $wgMathDisableTexFilter to 'always' (see below) if you only want the raw latex formula, else an error will appear due to the failed check for PNG depictions.

MathJax
Mode: MW_MATH_MATHJAX

This mode uses the MathJax application for client-side rendering. It is now deprecated, and requires MediaWiki 1.25 or lower in order to run. See for how to use it.

Tips and tricks

 * You can use the Firefox MathML copy addon to copy formulae to other applications such as Microsoft Word (video), or Google docs with the g(Math) plugin (video)
 * You can override the user preferred and default rendermode by adding the  attirbute to the $$ element. eg.. to force an image being rendered ...$$.

Error reporting
If something is wrong with the math extension you can report that at Phabricator. In addition you should check how your problem relates to the automated unit tests that are generated from the page CoverageTest.