Extension:Math

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MediaWiki extensions manual

Math Release status: stable
Implementation	Tag
Description	Allows to render mathematical formulas
Author(s)	Tomasz Wegrzanowski, Brion Vibber and others
Latest version	continuous updates
MediaWiki	1.19+
Database changes	Yes
Tables	math mathoid mathlatexml
License	GNU General Public License 2.0
Download	Download snapshot (Git master) Git [?]: repo summary browse file tree commit history code review
Parameters $wgUseTeX $wgTexvc $wgTexvcBackgroundColor $wgMathCheckFiles $wgMathPath $wgMathDirectory $wgMathFileBackend
Tags <math>
Hooks used ParserFirstCallInit GetPreferences LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates ParserTestTables ParserTestParser UnitTestsList
Translate the Math extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Check usage and version matrix; code metrics
Issues:	Open tasks · Report a bug

The Math extension provides support for rendering mathematical formulae. An overview of what can currently be done with this extension is found at the English Wikipedia's documentation.

This article documents how to install, configure and test recent versions of this extension. For advanced usages and documentation of old versions refer to Extension:Math/advancedSettingsExtension:Math/advancedSettings.

Installation

• If using VagrantMediaWiki-Vagrant, install with vagrant enable-role math && vagrant provision

Manual installation

• Download and place the file(s) in a directory called Math in your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once "$IP/extensions/Math/Math.php";
// See below for installation requirements and configuration settings:

• Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
• To see math beyond a plain text output, follow instructions below for enabling various math output modes.
• Y Done - Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Configuration

Beginning from MW 1.23+ you can use a Mathoid server that uses MathJax to convert texvc input on the server side to MathML+SVG rendering. Mathoid is the rendering mode that is going to be used on future Wikipedia. For that the following settings are recommended:

// Set MathML as default rendering option;
$wgDefaultUserOptions['math'] = 'mathml';
$wgMathFullRestbaseURL= 'https://api.formulasearchengine.com/';

Check out Mathoid to find instructions how to run your own Mathoid server.

Test your installation

Navigate to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:MathStatus where you should replace en.wikipedia.org with the hostname of your wiki.

Troubleshooting

If tests don't work please make sure that your server can connect to $wgMathMathMLUrl = "http://mathoid.testme.wmflabs.org";. For a large variety of systems the following command is a good test:

 sudo -u www-data curl -d 'q=E=mc^2' http://mathoid.testme.wmflabs.org/mml

which should return the following MathML fragment

<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="block" alttext="upper E equals m c squared">
  <semantics>
    <mrow>
      <mi>E</mi>
      <mo>=</mo>
      <mi>m</mi>
      <msup>
        <mi>c</mi>
        <mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD">
          <mn>2</mn>
        </mrow>
      </msup>
    </mrow>
    <annotation encoding="application/x-tex">E=mc^{2}</annotation>
  </semantics>
</math>

If that does not work create a task on https://phabricator.wikimedia.org

List of significant configuration settings

Setting name	Default value	Description
$wgMathValidModesManual:$wgMathValidModes	array( 'png', 'source', 'mathml' )	Defines the mode allowed on the server.
$wgMathDisableTexFilterManual:$wgMathDisableTexFilter	'never'	Option to disable the tex filter. If set to true any LaTeX espression is parsed this can be a potential security risk. If set to false only a subset of the TeX commands is allowed. See the wikipedia page Help:Math for details. Use "always" to disable this feature.
$wgMathMathMLUrl	http://mathoid.testme.wmflabs.org	Defines the link to the mathoid server. (Deprecated)
$wgMathFullRestbaseURL	false	The math extension gets the default config from the Visual Editor, if available. Details

Purging pages that contain equations

Specifying the URL-parameter action=purge does not force the math equation to re-render the math tags. If a complete re-rendering of the math tags is desired the URL-parameter action=purge&mathpurge=true has to be passed. Be aware that this might cause side effects with other pages since the math extension uses the hash of the input TeX-input-string as the caching key. e.g. if you would force the re-rending with mathpurge option for a page containing the equation $E=mc^2$, the new rendering result would be used on all other pages containing $E=mc^2$ after the individual page caches are invalidated.

Error reporting

If something is wrong with the math extension you can report that at Phabricator. In addition you should check how your problem relates to the automated unit tests that are generated from the page CoverageTest.

Further readingExtension:Math/advancedSettings

The Math extension can do much more, beside the basics described here. Check out Extension:Math/advancedSettingsExtension:Math/advancedSettings for old versions and further information.

See also

• Extension:Math/Roadmap for further development
• Mathoid