Skip to main content
All CollectionsEditing
Writing Equations with LaTeX
Writing Equations with LaTeX

LaTeX is a popular typesetting language that can be used to include mathematical notation in your notes.

Soren Bjornstad avatar
Written by Soren Bjornstad
Updated over a week ago

RemNote supports the inclusion of mathematical equations using LaTeX syntax (specifically, the KaTeX mathematical typesetting system for the web).

Adding equations in RemNote

To enter an equation in LaTeX, type $$ in any Rem. A popup will appear and allow you to edit the LaTeX markup; the resulting equation will be displayed as a preview in your notes. When you have the equation right, click Done or press Enter.

Adding aquations in RemNote

After you've created an equation, click on it or move the cursor over it with the arrow keys to reopen the popup to edit it.

If you have a larger equation, you can change it from Inline to Block mode to place it on its own line by selecting the appropriate option from the drop-down or pressing Alt+B:

The difference between an Inline Math and Block Math

Here are a few more complicated equations to give you an idea of what's possible:

Example of a latex formula in RemNote
Example of a latex formula in RemNote
Example of a latex formula in RemNote

Finding the right LaTeX markup

LaTeX is a highly efficient way of entering equations once you're familiar with it, but if you've never used it before, the necessary markup codes are not obvious. The Supported Functions section of the KaTeX website provides a great reference, and you can click the ? icon in the upper-right corner of the popup at any time to go there.

Another useful resource is Detexify, which allows you to sketch a symbol you're trying to reproduce and see a list of similar symbols known to LaTeX.

Example of Detexify

Note that not all symbols found in Detexify are supported in KaTeX. The Supported Functions table above is the definitive reference.

Chemistry markup

You can also write chemical equations using the mhchem package (support is built in to RemNote). Use the \ce macro (stands for chemical equation), and see the link for further documentation:

Chemistry markup using Latex

Creating LaTeX clozes

In addition to creating cloze deletions on an entire LaTeX equation, you can create deletions within equations. To do this, highlight the part you want to hide and click Create Cloze.

Creating a LaTeX cloze

The card will look like this in review:

Example of the flashcard from a LaTeX cloze

To hide multiple parts of the equation on the same card, like with the Merge option in text cloze deletions, hold down Alt while clicking the Create Cloze button.

How to hide multiple parts of a equation on the same card.

The card will look like this in review:

You can also manually change the cloze IDs (the 1 in c1:: in the example above); two cloze deletions with the same cloze ID will be hidden together.

Pasting Equations

When you paste text containing LaTeX expressions surrounded by $single dollar signs$ or $$double dollar signs$$, RemNote will recognize them and convert them to equations โ€“ in inline mode with single dollar signs, and in block mode with doubles.

RemNote also recognizes the alternate form \[ equation \] for block math.

For inline math, there must be at least one space immediately before and after the dollar signs for RemNote to recognize it as an equation. For instance, "$this expression$" wouldn't be turned into an equation because there is no space before the first dollar sign or after the last dollar sign (instead there are quotation marks there). But this $one$ would, because there is a space on both sides. This restriction prevents paragraphs that happen to contain several dollar signs (for instance, I spent $20 on pastries and $10 on coffee) from turning into equations. This restriction does not apply to block math with double dollar signs, since dollar signs are not ordinarily doubled up in normal text.

Did this answer your question?