# How to Use Equations in Markdown

February 21, 2023 — Jim Neumann

We have many science-minded people in our clientele: mathematicians, physicists, engineers, etc. In academia, a lot of written work needs to be done, whether it’s notes, assignments, or something else. For this, Markdown is becoming more and more popular. In many scientific fields you need to write down mathematical formulas and with the extension MathJax this is also possible in Markdown.

MathJax is a JavaScript library that reads math symbology and beautifully renders it in the previewed document. To use MathJax in DEVONthink, open Settings > Files > Markdown and enable Extensions: MathJAX Support. For DEVONthink To Go, open Settings > Markdown: Markdown Settings and enable the same option there.

Now, type your equations into your Markdown document, following MathJax formatting. The equation will be surrounded by $ for an inline reference or $\$ to display the equation by itself. You’ll find many helpful guides online, including this one: MathJax Cheat Sheet for Mathematical Notation by Jojo Zhuang. When you are done editing your Markdown document and switch to preview, you’ll see your equation professionally rendered.

As an added bonus for those who need it, you can use LaTeX symbols as well. Check out this amazing resource page: LaTeX Math Symbols from the makers of the popular documentation manager Dash.