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[George]

Clear communication is perhaps the most important skill in maths. To help you make your questions or answers clear, here are some tips for posting mathematics on this forum.

Superscript
This makes the text smaller and higher up. To make something superscript, put [sup] [/sup] around it.
eg " x[sup]2[/sup] + x - 4 " displays as x² + x - 4

Subscript
This makes the text smaller and low down. To make something subscript, put [sub] [/sub] around it.
eg " log[sub]10[/sub]x " displays as log10x

Symbols
Most symbols used in mathematics won't be found on a keyboard. You can still include them in your posts though - using the special Smilies we've created. You can see them all by clicking 'Show All' underneath the selection of smilies on the posting page. Here are a few examples:

[integral] displays
[deg] displays (degree symbol)
[pi] displays
[<=] displays

Note - it is important to leave a space on each side of the smiley, otherwise it won't display properly.

Fractions
There is no easy way to display a fraction, so you will have to put it all on one line. This means it might be important to use brackets.

eg x² + x - 4 / x + 5

does that mean (x² + x - 4) / (x + 5), x² + x - (4 / x) + 5 or something else? Make sure anyone reading your post will understand


I'll add to this list if problems arise, or if I've missed anything.