LaTex Fail (Auto-Linking Issue)

[mmm4444bot]

By way of reminder, the activation of auto-linking in this forum has created an issue causing failure of LaTex code to render.

Here's a recent example:

\(\displaystyle m + 1 = s(m), \text{ where } s(m) \text{ is the successor function.}\)

This LaTex code fails because v-Bulletin replaces the character string "function" with an auto-linked URL, and it does this before the line is sent to MathJax for LaTex rendering.

One workaround is to choose different wording (eg: pick a synonym that is not an auto-linked word).

A different workaround is to include the problematic word somewhere else in the post before the LaTex code. The auto-linking feature is disabled for a character string, after the first auto-linked instance in each post.

Yet another workaround is to split the troublesome word into two pieces: \text{func}\text{tion}

In addition to auto-linked words, LaTex will fail if a LaTex code-word itself comprises an auto-linked word. For example, the LaTex code for the angle symbol \(\displaystyle \angle\) will fail because "angle" is an auto-linked word. Again, it did not fail there because the prior instance of the word angle (shown as the auto-linked URL) disabled the auto-link feature for "angle", allowing the LaTex code to render.

These issues are mentioned as items #16 and #17, in this thread.

Cheers :cool:

 

[stapel]

\(\displaystyle m + 1 = s(m), \text{ where } s(m) \text{ is the successor function.}\)

This is so annoying! Especially when everything looks fine in "Preview", and you maybe don't notice (because you'd done -- or thought you'd done -- all the error-checking) that your careful work gets hosed when you "Submit". Oi!

To be fair, though, I understand why the webmaster has done this auto-linking to other parts of his website....

 

[JeffM]

This is so annoying! Especially when everything looks fine in "Preview", and you maybe don't notice (because you'd done -- or thought you'd done -- all the error-checking) that your careful work gets hosed when you "Submit". Oi!

To be fair, though, I understand why the webmaster has done this auto-linking to other parts of his website....

Quite frankly, I had run across this oddity long ago, but had forgotten all about it when I posted the example above.

So I am thankful for the reminder because I was scratching my head.

 

[mmm4444bot]

Agree, it's a nuisance, now and again. It's been awhile, since posting about these things, so here's another heads-up, for when you can't think what else to try with a mysterious LaTex issue (like something embedded and hidden, perhaps by the amazing WYSI[NOTALWAYS]WYG interface).

I cut the entire piece of LaTex code (along with the lines before and after, if necessary), and then I paste it back as "Plain Text". (In Windows, the keyboard shortcut for pasting as plain text is CTRL-SHIFT-V.)

For me, this sort of thing occurs more when I edit a lot (i.e., text formatting, colors, copying or moving stuff around).