Inserting Formula

You can add formula into your text notes. We support Maths, Chemistry and Physical Units.

Entering Formula

Click the formula icon in any of the text boxes

(Or if you already have a formula you can click that to edit it)

What functions can I use?

You can use any of the functions supported by KaTeX. See here for the full list of functions: https://katex.org/docs/supported

You can enter Chemistry Elements and Physical Units using our mhchem integration. See here for a full guide on what's supported: https://mhchem.github.io/MathJax-mhchem/

Help!

To create a formula, you'll need to use specific letters and symbols to give structured instructions on how to build the formula. Think of it like writing a simple recipe, where every symbol tells the system exactly what to do. See our examples below.

Basic Symbols:  x y 1234 + - = etc can all be used to build out formula

Functions: More advanced functions have an abbreviated name and you'll need to add a forward slash at the start so we know this is a function rather than a list of letters. For example: \sqrt \frac \rightarrow \sum etc

Curly brackets: To separate different functions or to specify exactly what is captured by a function use curly brackets. For example: \frac {top} {bottom}

Examples

Powers

To enter powers you'll need to add the ^  icon; this is usually SHIFT+6 on your keyboard

Try it yourself:  e=mc^2

To add powers with multiple digits you need to use curly brackets to let us know what's the power and what's not.

Try it yourself: x^{69}

What happens if you don't use the curly brackets?

Roots

Sometimes a symbol isn't enough to tell KaTeX what you need, so you'll need to use a named function. Eg "sqrt" for a square root, or "frac" for a fraction. To use these functions you need to add a forward slash first so we know it's a function and then add your content in between curly brackets.

To add a square root:

Try it yourself: \sqrt{2ac}

What happens if you don't use the curly brackets?

To add a different root use square brackets to add the root you want:

Try it yourself: \sqrt[3]{2ac}

Fractions

To build a nice looking fraction use the \frac function with curly brackets around your numerator {the top} and the denominator {the bottom}

Try it yourself: \frac {top} {bottom}

The Result

And then combine them all into something you'll hopefully recognise:

Try it yourself: x =  \frac { -b  ( \pm  { \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}) }{2a}

Chemistry Elements

To enter chemistry elements begin with \ce and add your content inside curly brackets.

(https://mhchem.github.io/MathJax-mhchem/)

Try it yourself: \ce{SO3 + H2O -> H2SO4}

Physical Units

To enter physical units begin with \pu and add your content inside curly brackets:

(https://mhchem.github.io/MathJax-mhchem/)

Try it yourself: \pu{2.16E-7 m/s2}