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I want to ask something that contains a mathematical formula.

How can I write the equation ? Is there a page that shows the syntax ?

I thought there must be some syntax like in Wikipedia or something...

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See meta.stackexchange.com/questions/73504/… - but I don't think the syntax is implemented on SO –  ChrisF Jan 28 '11 at 14:52
It's strange that stackoverflow does not support math formulas directly, like MathExchange or CrossValidate. –  qed Sep 1 '13 at 14:30

3 Answers 3

up vote 17 down vote accepted

I'm not sure why Simon deleted his answer, but it was right, you can use the Google Charts API. For example, this:




Edit: Second formula:


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+1 I (wrongly) thought they couldn't be added as images. –  Gelatin Jan 28 '11 at 15:12
Just to make this complete, an online TEXT editor: codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php –  Yochai Timmer Jan 28 '11 at 17:42
This doesn't work well when you have more than 1 formula. –  Yochai Timmer Jan 28 '11 at 19:40
@Yochai I just tried it in an edit; what issue are you having? –  Michael Mrozek Jan 28 '11 at 19:49
tried to put 4 formulas, only the first showed. –  Yochai Timmer Jan 28 '11 at 20:03
I need to substitute ) with %29 to make it work in preview when I type the answer. But even if I do so, it doesn't work when I save it and view it. @YochaiTimmer 's answer works for me. –  Haozhun May 28 '13 at 7:26
This answer is now outdated, Stack Overflow now accepts LaTeX Phrases. (See Mehrad's answer) –  Jan Moritz Lindemann May 27 at 19:35

Ok, best combination I found is doing something like what Michael suggested.
But it's easier to reference the link at the bottom.
So, go to this site: Online LaTex Equation Editor
Create your formula. Use this site and encode it for URL safety: URL Encoder/Decoder

Add the result to the google prefix https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&chl=

Then reference it to your post:

This is a formula ![formula][1]
Another formula: ![another][2]

  [1]: https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&chl=%5Csum_%7B23%7D%5E%7B43%7D
  [2]: https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=tx&chl=%5Csqrt%7B%5Cfrac%7B%5Cpartial%7D%7B%5Cpartial%20x%7D%7D

It will show like this:

This is a formula formula

Another formula: another

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Unfortunately, the result is not as good as directly from LaTeX... –  brimborium Aug 10 '12 at 10:26
+1 I was having trouble getting this to work using chart.googleapis.com although I was able to get this work using the URL encoded link from codecogs just fine. I was using it for this answer, any idea why? –  Shafik Yaghmour Nov 30 '13 at 4:35

LaTeX Phrases


The Gamma function satisfying $\Gamma(n) = (n-1)!\quad\forall n\in\mathbb N$ is via through the Euler integral


And you'll see the resutls as: enter image description here

To create Latex phrase go to online Latex Equation Edittor

This is topic oriented. It definitely works in Physics and Maths Exchange

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