## The WordPress.com Blog

The WordPress.com Blog

## Math for the Masses

Odd as it may sound, I miss all the equations from my days in grad school, so I decided that what WordPress.com needed most was a hot, niche feature that maybe 17 people would use regularly:

$\LaTeX$

For those that don’t know, $\LaTeX$ is a typesetting system particularly well suited for documents of a mathematical persuasion. It’s used almost exclusively by many technical, scientific and mathematical disciplines both in academia and industry. It also looks really good; I, among many, consider Donald E. Knuth a personal hero.

For those that do know, it’s now ridiculously easy to include inline $\LaTeX$ formulas in your blog posts.

The syntax is reminiscent of $\LaTeX$‘s inline math mode: $latex your-latex-code-here$, and it allows you to produce most any equation. For example, the following code

$latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right>$

yields

$i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right>$.

Pretty sweet, huh?

To further whet your appetite, these few standards show a bit more about what’s now possible on WordPress.com.

$\displaystyle\bar{M}=\frac{kT}{\Xi}\sum_N\left(\frac{\partial Q_N}{\partial D}\right)_{V,T}\lambda^N$

$G_{ab}^{(1)} = -\frac{1}{2}\partial^c\partial_c \bar{\gamma}_{ab} + \partial^c\partial_{(b}\bar{\gamma}_{a)c} -\frac{1}{2}\eta_{ab}\partial^c\partial^d\bar{\gamma}_{cd} = 8\pi T_{ab}$

$\displaystyle P_\nu^{-\mu}(z)=\frac{\left(z^2-1\right)^{\frac{\mu}{2}}}{2^\mu \sqrt{\pi}\Gamma\left(\mu+\frac{1}{2}\right)}\int_{-1}^1\frac{\left(1-t^2\right)^{\mu -\frac{1}{2}}}{\left(z+t\sqrt{z^2-1}\right)^{\mu-\nu}}dt$

$\square$

UPDATE: There’s a new LaTeX on WordPress.com FAQ entry that describes the “hidden” size and color options.

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1. humbug

Neat 🙂

That will get the geeks around busy for a while!

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2. cleav_

OH MY GOODNESS.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH WP!!!

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3. Pingback: blogwaffe » What I did today
4. tamino

Outstanding! Until I saw this note, I thought the only way I could get equations in posts was to do ’em in LaTeX, make a pdf, create an image file, and insert the image file. Now I can do it in native LaTeX.

Thanks.

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5. ..::porjai::..

as a grad school of economic student, its a pretty good typesetting.

good job.

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6. charleslemark

but i think i will not use it for a long time (maybe forever) hehehe…

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7. curtisschweitzer

This. is. so. hot.

I would encourage folks to try out TeX or LaTeX for document composition as well- it produced unmatched typographical coolness.

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8. unintendedpurpose

You wanna scare me???

That´s serious?

Anyway, you´re all doing quite nice -sometimes kinda ‘geeky’- stuff… but keep on , doing so!

Greeting from Germany MIC
unintended purposes, ya know ?! 😉

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9. Carson Sasser

Great! Before retiring I was a mathematician for the Air Force. We used LaTex in producing technical reports. Not that I write that many equations any more though.

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10. Ponder Stibbons

Thank you so much.

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11. Anita Marie

Math? Math?!NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wasn’t it Beavis and Butthead that said…”man I hate numbers there are too many of them”
Make them go away!

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12. opinionated indian

u guys are amazing. One cool feature after another…only if you’d allow javascript or some other way to earn money only in the sidebar that’d just be all I ever needed.

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13. katm

Wow.

That’s really cool. Not something I’d ever use in my blog, but still cool.

(OMG, am I that much of a geek????)

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14. fracas

I’ll just get right on that you guys, now I can show that troll (who implied I was stupid and a pig) how smart I am by making use of this at fracas.

LOL.

Seriously… I’m sure it’ll be more than 17 people who’ll use this. There’s got to be at least 29.

😉

Keep up the good work.

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15. nobody

oh whata surprise !!!!!

thx

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16. EclecticGeek

That is pretty sweet. Now, I just have figure out a way to get this into my blog. I’m thinking stats perhaps… 😉

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17. Pingback: LaTeX no Wordpress.com « Sfair
18. ocanto

Well done, guys!
Always improving 🙂

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19. Ryan

I wish I could say I knew what that equation meant. It seems really sweet for people who could use that, though.

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20. talkislam

you dudes are awesome, not that i’d have any use for it, but its a very diverse feature, keep em coming!

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21. Jon

Awesome! Thanks!

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22. Hardliner

LOL………..

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23. rjlight

Yes, now I can post all those math jokes I’ve been yearning to post! My new niche–the humor math blog!

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24. blayde

Wow, if i ever want to show someone how far i’d throw my , i’d use this for calculation

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25. Röttgar

That’s amazing! Finally I can write about important stuff! 😉

But what would really be nice: Latex in comments, too. So we can have geeky math talk.

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26. jesch

yeah. that would be really useful sharing homework with your buddies. lol

yes, mr.knuth im gonna add you up in my “hero” list as well… no. your consent’s not required. 😀

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27. Geminie

This feature is definitely COOL.

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28. Gray

can’t wait to try this out!

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29. robertaccettura

What are the chances of seeing this in WordPress 2.2? Or is this a .com only thing?

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30. Zeon

Haha, this would be really useful if I posted my homework on my blog :p

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31. mdawaffe

robertaccettura,

There is a plugin for the self-hosted version of WordPress that does LaTeX. It’s implementation is different than what we do here on WodPress.com, but the end results are about the same.

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32. Pingback: Psychohistory Wordpress: Easy as PI «
33. Ice9

This is a math major’s dream. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!!

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34. Ed Darrell

Looks like more than 17 people are interested already.

I hope some of these people come back to alert us to where they’ve used the feature.

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35. Klisiu

Cool 😉

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36. yournotes

Great! I’ll never use this since the operands I use are primarily +/-*….

So when do we get email blogging?

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37. isaid

This is indeed good news, for uhmm, although i thin kit’s easier to learn differential calculs than LaTeX

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38. Pingback: Six weird things « MY7THLIFE.NET
39. mannar

Interesting…..i dunno if i will ever use it….but really interesting….

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40. girlfriday

Excellent. Not that I expect I’ll be using this feature regularly. But I like that I could 😉

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41. Gunnar

Best. Feature. Ever.

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42. Sha

Woohoo can now explain the pain in the ass maths questions from my homework on the net!

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43. stelt

Very nice.
To make it even better: use img as a backup for browser-based MathML rendering
And maybe also allow for MathML input

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44. Pingback: LaTeX in WordPress.com at Ejecutive
45. C4RL05

Very nice! You guys rock!!!

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46. Nikolakis

That’s SO amazing! I think of uploading my thesis in chapters now 😛

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47. Pingback: formules (LATEX) nu op Wordpress blogs zoals deze « Open source en standaarden op de UT
48. Sacha

Super. This will keep me busy for a long while, but then less busy in the long run.

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49. Pingback: LaTeX « MadQuark Blog
50. Nicola

Eeeeeek – maths formula – hides …………

Looks neat though!

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51. Island in the Net

Sweet!

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52. kobak

Amazing. Thanks for the plugin link too.

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53. Christoph Wagner

yeah, thats cool:)
Thx people!
Now I can blog about my university math problems and hope someone helps me;)

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54. northcountrygirl

nice. well, kind of. as a former english major, my first inclination is to say BAH!! and GO AWAY!! but as a former MBA student who did “ok” in finance and economics, i can say, “well, that’s something i can’t figure out (but sure do wish i could).”

🙂

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55. Pingback: LaTeX su Wordpress.com « Ferra’s Corner
56. rumours

WP is Amazing

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57. boliviafteroffice

Nice tool! Thnx!

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58. jerjer

Although I don’t understand the equation at all. I still think its a good step forward !!
Well done !!

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59. Jojo

Looks like the masses are happy.

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60. Brian

Something I will never need to use. 🙂

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61. cedison

As a mere high school math teacher in the inner city we don’t use those symbols much, nay ever. But my math degree, which lies comatose in my mind, sings with the inherent niftyness. Thanks.

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62. David W. Boles

Brilliant and killer! Thanks for providing this important, if esoteric, feature.

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63. austria

That’s what i’ve missed since I use WordPress!

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64. jonny

dude, this is the shizzle! thanks! it works very well.

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65. S. Weasel

My brain just exploded.

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66. dpcough

uh……

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67. jd2718

Thanks, I needed that.

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68. Tripp

Perfect timing, I need this for something due tuesdauy.

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69. Pingback: LaTeX on Wordpress « JD2718
70. Chato Mor

I love it! Finally i can share my advanced mathematic ideas with all the world!

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71. Rizwan

cool .. might come in handy later on .. are there any tutorials on syntaxes usage !!!

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72. Pingback: LaTeX no WordPress.com - Definitivo « Portal do Bruno
73. blessed1

Thats a wonderful application!!

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74. ccat

cool~

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75. yoozeq

You guys rock! 🙂 I don’t know if I ever have to use it (probably I will anyway – just because I can:)) but knowing it’s here feels really cool:)

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76. Alec Gullon

I can feel myself going weak at the knees.

Yes I am an unashamable geek. Perhaps now I can use my blog to explain mathematical principles for people. I look forward to seeing this introduced.

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77. helenl

Thanks for providing features for people who know what they are. There is no reason we should all think alike or even want to.

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78. ramoody5

Man I became dizzy with these formulas

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79. engtech

I think I will use this around once, but I’m still very glad it exists.

thanks

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80. Moridin

Even though there is a plugin for this, my vote is on making it a part of the default wordpress installation.

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81. JP Mitchell

Does this feature now include the other non-math syntax of LaTeX? Because I’m using LaTeX to typeset my book. It would be nice to do similar things, or at least test them, on a blog.

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82. kalawski

Outstanding!

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83. meteo

hope i won’t need it, but if i should be unlucky, that’s really great news

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84. yuE

ah… i refuse to learn this.

hmpF~

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85. بهمن

Excellent WP boys 😉

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86. Peter Klein

Is there a way to make it work in comments?

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87. Coconuts

Damn, I just had a geek-gasm. Now I won’t have to manually $\LaTeX$ equations and upload them as pdfs…not that I’ve ever or anything…

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88. hober

Do you think you’ll release this as a plugin in its own right?

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89. Pingback: Dear god yes « Mumble Mumble…
90. hottiehot4

thats wierd

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91. leftymarine

simply put, WOW!

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92. Pi

Cool, people!

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93. bdzuver

Recently I wrote article about inserting Latex code with some external code generator which require typing code after certain URL, but now the nightmare is over.

Thanks!

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94. Naughty Heather

MATH! ARGH!!

I am sure that is impressive but I think my brain just exploded…

Lol

Congrats!

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95. Renato

This is really cool!

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96. Darmok

Incredible! What a great idea!

Now I must write a mathematics-related post…

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97. sandyblog

Awesome!

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98. Kyle

Umm, first I have to get past geometry!

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99. matty44

Well i’ll sum it up in one word…absolutelyconfusingbutpretycoolforthegeeks

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100. sooperkev

I think I may be allergic to latex.

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