Help:Math

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Math can be written in the wiki in the form of LaTeX, a typesetting language used primarily to type mathematical expressions in an elegant fashion. For example, without LaTeX, $\frac{35}{137}$ would have to be written as 35/137. To use LaTeX in the forums, enclose your LaTeX code with dollar signs: $your codes here$ . You can also use double dollar signs or other normal $\LaTeX$ indicators: $$your codes here$$ or \[your codes here\]. (There are also deprecated [tex] tags, but let's not get into that) To use LaTeX on AoPS Wiki, you can enclose the code with dollar signs as in the forum, or you can also enclose your code with math tags, like so: $your codes here$ . Note that can be used instead of $ $ , and \[ \] instead of $$ $$. However, on the AoPS Wiki, dollar signs are preferred because they change into the tags $ and $$.

Useful Codes

See LaTeX:Symbols for a more complete list.

\boxed{answer} produces a box around your answer. $\boxed{answer}$
\frac{a}{b} produces a fraction with numerator $a$ and denominator $b$ . $\frac{a}{b}$
^\circ produces the degrees symbol. $a^{\circ}$
\text{text} produces text within LaTeX. $\mbox{text}$ .
\sqrt{x} produces the square root of $x$ . $\sqrt{x}$
\sqrt[n]{x} produces the $n$ th root of $x$ . $\sqrt[n]{x}$
a\equiv b \pmod{c} produces $a$ is equivalent to $b$ mod $c$ . $a\equiv b \pmod{c}$
\binom{9}{3} produces 9 choose 3.
x^{y} produces x to the power of y. $x^y$
x_{y} produces x with y in subscript. $x_y$
\implies produces the implication symbol. $\implies$
\iff produces a biconditional symbol. $\iff$
\rightarrow produces an arrow to the right. $\rightarrow$
\leftarrow produces an arrow to the left. $\leftarrow$
\uparrow produces an arrow pointing upwards. $\uparrow$
\downarrow produces an arrow pointing downwards. $\downarrow$
\updownarrow produces an arrow pointing up and down. $\updownarrow$
\not A produces a slash through the character following it. this is helpful for making symbols such as $\not =$ and $\not\ge$ . $\not A$
\ge produces a not greater than or equal to sign. $\ge$
\le produces a not less than or equal to sign. $\le$
\neq produces a not equal to sign. Alternatively, you can use \not=. $\neq$
\infty produces an infinity sign.
\perp produces a perpendicular sign. $\perp$
\angle produces an angle sign. $\angle$
\triangle produces a triangle. $\triangle$
\ldots produces three dots at the bottom of a line (ellipsis). $\ldots$
\cdots produces three dots in the middle of a line (as in a series sum or product). $\cdots$
\cdot produces the multiplication symbol $\cdot$ .

On AoPS Wiki, $\text\LaTeX$ is in display mode by default, so there's no difference between \frac{}{} and \dfrac{}{}, for example. Also note that you do not have to use braces, "{" and "}", when you only want one character in the operation. For example,

x^y is the same as x^{y}. $x^y$ ,
x_y is the same as x_{y}. $x_y$ ,
but x^10 ( $x^10$ ) is not the same as x^{10} ( $x^{10}$ ).

Fonts

Note: Using things in the Font families or font styles sections behaves similarly to \text (they get out of math mode), and also switches the style. Font sizes only work in \text{...} or things like \textsf{...}.

Font families

Roman (default): \textrm{...}
Sans-serif: \textsf{...}

Font sizes

To activate a font size, write '{<sizecommand> text that applies}', as in '{\tiny this is so tiny}'.

\tiny (5 pt.)
\scriptsize (7 pt.)
\footnotesize (8 pt.)
\small (9 pt.)
\normalsize (10 pt.)
\large (12 pt.)
\Large (14 pt.)
\LARGE (18 pt.)
\huge (20 pt.)
\Huge (24 pt.)

Font styles

Bold \textbf{...}
Italics \textit{...}
Slanted \textsl{...}
Small capitals \textsc{...}
Sans-serif \textsf{...}
Monospace \texttt{...}
Emphasis \emph{...}

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