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I'm looking forward to the day when browsers support LaTeX content without any special plugins or libraries. Until then I use server-side MathJax to support my

by lutusp 10y ago

I'm looking forward to the day when browsers support LaTeX content without any special plugins or libraries. Until then I use server-side MathJax to support my site's technical pages. MathJax is a terrific piece of software, but its popularity is an implicit argument for a generic browser feature that does the same thing. If that became the norm, I could switch to LaTeX right now and HN readers would see a result any mathematically literate person would hope for. For a while Reddit supported a plugin that rendered LaTeX by way of an external server called "CodeCogs." Eventually CodeCogs realized they were being exploited with no compensating gain, so they blocked all Reddit accesses. Here's a concise definition of pi -- \displaystyle \pi = 2 \int_{-1}^1 \sqrt{1-x^2} dx -- I mean, if only you could see it. Here's how e is formally defined: \displaystyle e = \lim_{n\to\infty} (1+\frac{1}{n})^n I've been suggesting this for longer than I can remember. Meanwhile, here's my online LaTeX editor: https://arachnoid.com/latex/ https://arachnoid.com/latex/

JadeNB 10y ago
> I'm looking forward to the day when browsers support LaTeX content without any special plugins or libraries. As a mathematician who appreciates cheap'n'easy (pseudo-)LaTeX availability on, for example, MathOverflow, I totally disagree with this. Browsers are big enough already. It's easy for me to install the libraries to view what I need; why make everyone else pay the cost for it? (My argument is inherently selfish: I don't want other content specialists to insist that my browser have built-in capabilities to deal with all their professional needs.)
- lutusp 10y ago
  Fair enough, your position has merit -- browsers really are very large, getting larger, and not in a way that necessarily benefits the average user. My website uses MathJax on the server side to get around this problem (example: https://arachnoid.com/NormalDistribution/ https://arachnoid.com/NormalDistribution/), most publishers of mathematical content can use this approach. And for discussion fora, as you mention, users can install a plugin to make Latex render correctly in this specialized environment. > ... why make everyone else pay the cost for it? I agree, I should have thought through my earlier position more carefully.

by lutusp 10y ago

JadeNB 10y ago

> I'm looking forward to the day when browsers support LaTeX content without any special plugins or libraries. As a mathematician who appreciates cheap'n'easy (pseudo-)LaTeX availability on, for example, MathOverflow, I totally disagree with this. Browsers are big enough already. It's easy for me to install the libraries to view what I need; why make everyone else pay the cost for it? (My argument is inherently selfish: I don't want other content specialists to insist that my browser have built-in capabilities to deal with all their professional needs.)

lutusp 10y ago
Fair enough, your position has merit -- browsers really are very large, getting larger, and not in a way that necessarily benefits the average user. My website uses MathJax on the server side to get around this problem (example: https://arachnoid.com/NormalDistribution/ https://arachnoid.com/NormalDistribution/), most publishers of mathematical content can use this approach. And for discussion fora, as you mention, users can install a plugin to make Latex render correctly in this specialized environment. > ... why make everyone else pay the cost for it? I agree, I should have thought through my earlier position more carefully.