97 lines
4.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
97 lines
4.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _MathML-support:
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**********************
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MathJax MathML Support
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**********************
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The support for :term:`MathML` in MathJax consists of three parts: the
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`mml2jax` preprocessor, the MathML input processor, and the NativeMML
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output processor. The first of these looks for ``<math>`` tags within
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your document and marks them for later processing by MathJax. The
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second converts the MathML to the internal format used by MathJax, and
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the third turns the internal format into MathML within the page so
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that it can be displayed by the browser's native MathML support.
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Because of MathJax's modular design, you do not need to use all three
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of these components. For example, you could use the `tex2jax`
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preprocessor and the TeX input processor, but the NativeMML output
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processor, so that your mathematics is entered in TeX format, but
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displayed as MathML. Or you could use the `mml2jax` reprocessor and
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MathML input processor with the HTML-CSS output processor to make
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MathML available in browsers that don't have native MathML support.
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It is also possible to have MathJax select the output processor for
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you so that MathML is used in those browsers that support it, while
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HTML-CSS is used for those that don't. See the :ref:`common
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configurations <common-configurations>` section for details and
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examples.
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Of course it is also possible to use all three components together.
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It may seem strange to go through an internal format just to return to
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MathML in the end, but this is actually what makes it possible to view
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MathML within an HTML page (rather than an XHTML page), without
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the complications of handling special MIME-types for the document, or
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any of the other setup issues that make using native MathML
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difficult. MathJax handles the setup and properly marks the
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mathematics so that the browser will render it as MathML. In
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addition, MathJax provides its contextual menu for the MathML, which
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lets the user zoom the mathematics for easier reading, get the copy
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the source markup, and so on, so there is added value to using MathJax
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even whith a pure MathML workflow.
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MathML in HTML pages
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====================
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For MathML that is handled via the pre-processor, you should not use
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the named MathML entities, but rather use the numeric entities like
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``√`` or unicode characters embedded in the page itself. The
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reason is that entities are replaced by the browser before MathJax
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runs, and some browsers report errors for unknown entities. For
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browsers that are not MathML-aware, that will cause errors to be
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displayed for the MathML entities. While that might not occur in the
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browser you are using to compose your pages, it can happen with other
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browsers, so you should avoid the named entities whenever possible.
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If you must use named entities, you may need to declare them in the
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`DOCTYPE` declaration by hand.
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When you use MathML in an HTML document rather than an XHTML one
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(MathJax will work woth both), you should not use the "self-closing"
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form for tags with no content, but should use separate open and close
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tags. That is, use
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.. code-block:: html
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<mspace width="thinmathspace"></mspace>
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rather than ``<mspace width="thinmathspace />``. This is because HTML
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does not have self-closing tags, and some browsers will get the
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nesting of tags wrong if you attempt to use them. For example, with
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``<mspace width="1em" />``, since there is no closing tag, the rest of
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the mathematics will become the content of the ``<mspace>`` tag; but
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since ``<mspace>`` should have no content, the rest of the mathematics
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will not be displayed. This is a common error that should be avoided.
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Supported MathML commands
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=========================
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MathJax supports the `MathML3.0 <http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML3/>`_
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presentation mathematics tags, with some limitations. The MathML
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support is still under active development, so some tags are not yet
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implemented, and some features are not fully developed, but are
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coming.
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The deficiencies include:
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- No support for the elementary math tags: ``mstack``, ``mlongdiv``,
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``msgroup``, ``msrow``, ``mscarries``, and ``mscarry``.
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- Limited support for line breaking (they are only allowed in direct
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children of ``mrow`` or implied ``mrow`` elements.
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- No support for alignment groups in table.
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- No support for right-to-left rendering.
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See the `results of the MathML3.0 test suite
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<http://www.w3.org/Math/testsuite/results/tests.html>`_ for details.
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