GitHub can now render TeX in markdown

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

For a long time, my Algebraic Integer Calculator project on GitHub did not have any explanation of any of the pertinent mathematical concepts in the Read Me file. I was aware that some equations can be typeset in HTML and markdown somewhat easily, though it can be laborious.

For example, x³ − 3x² + 3x − 19 = 0. To type it here on Medium, I had to italicize each X individually, and paste in the proper minus sign twice. Forget about trying to typeset things like sums and products.

It would be nice if I could use TeX to type something like

x^3 - 3x^2 + 3x - 19 = 0

in my markdown files and have GitHub render it as something like “x³ − 3x² + 3x − 19 = 0”. It would be even nicer if I could type something like

x^n + \sum_{i = 0}^{n - 1} a_i x^i = 0

and have it render with the proper Greek letter sigma and associated layout.

Well, now I can do that. You might not need it in every one of your GitHub repositories, I know I don’t. But when I do need it, I’m glad I can do it.

It certainly makes sense in my Algebraic Integer Calculator project. In that project’s repository, the Read Me file contains the following paragraph:

For example, one solution of $x^3 - 3x^2 + 3x - 19 = 0$ is $$1 + 
\frac{{\root 3 \of {12}}^2}{2} = 0.$$ Thanks to the fundamental theorem of 
algebra, we know that that equation has three solutions.

It gets rendered as

Screenshot from GitHub

There’s a mistaken equation there, but that one’s on me, not GitHub. Correcting the mistake will be a simple matter of deleting a couple of characters.

I don’t have to convert a TeX renderer’s output to some image format, I don’t have to upload such output to GitHub and then figure out how to reference it from the markdown file. I just make the correction, commit and push the change.

Not sure when this ability was added. Very grateful for it.

Haven’t checked on IntelliJ IDEA support yet, that’s on my To Do list.