In order to display the mathematics on this site I use MathJax. The mathematics "source" is LaTeX and the MathJax "processor" converts that source into "viewable" mathematics. Below is a little more information about the decision to do this if you are curious as to why the change in how math is displayed on the site.
For example, the following LaTeX code,
\[ a x^{2} + b x + c = 0 \hspace{0.5in} \Rightarrow \hspace{0.5in} x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^{2}-4ac}}{2a} \]will produce the following (probably) very familiar mathematical formula.
\[a x^{2} + b x + c = 0 \hspace{0.5in} \Rightarrow \hspace{0.5in} x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^{2}-4ac}}{2a} \]Quick note about the LaTeX in the pages... If you are thinking of using the "source" of the mathematics to learn LaTeX. Don't do it! The tool I used to convert the source documents into LaTeX generally did a good job but the result is often UGLY LaTeX "code" and not how I would have done it if I was writing it in LaTeX from the start. It put a lot of extra "junk" into the LaTeX that just isn't needed most of the time and if I had taken the time to remove that and generally clean it up it would have, quite likely, taken me closer to 3 YEARS (!! Yikes !!) to convert all the pages.
Okay, on to some of the configuration options that MathJax provides. Please note as well that the options here are provided by the MathJax folks and not me and as such I can't provide tech support for something in these options that doesn't work. Sorry.
If you right click on any equation (such as the one above) a menu will open that will allow you to configure a handful of MathJax options. After opening the menu you can select "MathJax Help" to get a quick description of the menu items. In all likelihood the most useful options are,
- Accessibility: Options to help various screen readers correctly interpret the page and allow for exploring the math with a screen reader.
- Math Settings -> Math Renderer: Tells MathJax to display the math as either straight HTML/CSS or to use SVG's to display the math.
- Math Settings -> Wide Equations: This is very useful for mobile devices. If an equation will run off the screen these options will let you determine how MathJax handles the equation. The default is to add a scroll bar so the equation will stay full size and let you scroll to see the full equation.
- Math Settings -> Zoom Trigger, Zoom Factor & Scale All Math: Options to set the scale of the equations if you need to.
Please be aware that MathJax will set a cookie on your computer to remember any changes you make to the default settings. It does not, however, use the cookie to track you in any way.