MathJax (Source Repository)

Beautiful math in all browsers

MathJax is an open-source JavaScript display engine for LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notation that works in all modern browsers. It was designed with the goal of consolidating the recent advances in web technologies into a single, definitive, math-on-the-web platform supporting the major browsers and operating systems. It requires no setup on the part of the user (no plugins to download or software to install), so the page author can write web documents that include mathematics and be confident that users will be able to view it naturally and easily. Simply include MathJax and some mathematics in a web page, and MathJax does the rest.

Some of the main features of MathJax include:

High-quality display of LaTeX, MathML, and AsciiMath notation in HTML pages
Supported in most browsers with no plug-ins, extra fonts, or special setup for the reader
Easy for authors, flexible for publishers, extensible for developers
Supports math accessibility, cut-and-paste interoperability, and other advanced functionality
Powerful API for integration with other web applications

See http://www.mathjax.org/ for additional details about MathJax, and https://docs.mathjax.org for the MathJax documentation.

What's in this Repository

This repository contains the source files for MathJax, which are written in TypeScript. These are compiled into JavaScript files and then combined into component files for use on the web. The component files are available from several CDN services that host MathJax, and also from the MathJax Component Repository. Node applications can use either the component files, or call the MathJax JavaScript files directly.

Installation and Use

Using MathJax in web browsers

If you are loading MathJax from a CDN into a web page, there is no need to install anything. Simply use a script tag that loads MathJax from the CDN. E.g.,

<script id="MathJax-script" async src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-mml-chtml.js"></script>

See the MathJax documentation, the MathJax Web Demos, and the MathJax Component Repository for more information.

Using MathJax Components in node applications

To use MathJax components in a node application, install the mathjax package:

npm install mathjax@3

(we are still making updates to version 2, so you should include @3 since the latest chronological version may not be version 3).

Then require mathjax within your application:

require('mathjax').init({ ... }).then((MathJax) => { ... });

where the first { ... } is a MathJax configuration, and the second { ... } is the code to run after MathJax has been loaded. E.g.

require('mathjax').init({
  loader: {load: ['input/tex', 'output/svg']}
}).then((MathJax) => {
  const svg = MathJax.tex2svg('\\frac{1}{x^2-1}', {display: true});
  console.log(MathJax.startup.adaptor.outerHTML(svg));
}).catch((err) => console.log(err.message));

Note: this technique is for node-based applications only, not for browser applications. This method sets up an alternative DOM implementation, which you don't need in the browser, and tells MathJax to use node's require() command to load external modules. This setup will not work properly in the browser, even if you webpack it or bundle it in other ways.

See the documentation and the MathJax Node Repository for more details.

Using MathJax modules directly in node applications

You can use the MathJax JavaScript files (as opposed to MathJax components) directly in node applications. This gives you the greatest flexibility, but requires more coding. To use this approach, install the mathjax-full package:

npm install mathjax-full

This will provide the following directories:

node_modules/
  mathjax-full/
    ts/                  the MathJax source TypeScript files
    js/                  the compiled JavaScript files
    components/          the component build tools and control files
    es5/                 the packages component files

You can use the components and JavaScript files directly in your node applications (see the MathJax node demos for examples).

If you want to work from the GitHub repository directly, then do the following:

git clone https://github.com/mathjax/MathJax-src.git mathjax-src
cd mathjax-src
npm run --silent compile
npm run --silent make-components

in order to compile the JavaScript files from the TypeScript source, and build the component files from the JavaScript files.

Code Contributions

If you are interested in contributing code to MathJax, please see the documentation for contributors for details on how to do this, and for the policies for making pull requests. In particular, please be careful that you are working from the proper branch in the git repository, or you may be asked to rebase your changes when you make a pull request.

MathJax Community

The main MathJax website is http://www.mathjax.org, and it includes announcements and other important information. A MathJax user forum for asking questions and getting assistance is hosted at Google, and the MathJax bug tracker is hosted at GitHub.

Before reporting a bug, please check that it has not already been reported. Also, please use the bug tracker (rather than the help forum) for reporting bugs, and use the user's forum (rather than the bug tracker) for questions about how to use MathJax.

mathjax/MathJax-src

mathjax

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