MathJax with Jekyll
One of the rewards of switching my website to [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com/) is the
ability to support **MathJax**, which means I can write LaTeX-like equations that get
nicely displayed in a web browser, like this one \\( \sqrt{\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}} \\) or
this one \\( x^2 + y^2 = r^2 \\).
### What's MathJax?
If you check MathJax website [(www.mathjax.org)](http://www.mathjax.org/) you'll see
that it *is an open source JavaScript display engine for mathematics that works in all
browsers*.
### How to implement MathJax with Jekyll
I followed the instructions described by Dason Kurkiewicz for
[using Jekyll and Mathjax](http://dasonk.github.io/blog/2012/10/09/Using-Jekyll-and-Mathjax/).
Here are some important details. I had to modify the Ruby library for Markdown in
my ```_config.yml``` file. Now I'm using redcarpet so the corresponding line in the
configuration file is: ```markdown: redcarpet```
To load the MathJax javascript, I added the following lines in my layout ```post.html```
(located in my folder ```_layouts```)
{% highlight r %}
{% endhighlight %}
Of course you can choose a different file location in your jekyll layouts.
Note that by default, the **tex2jax** preprocessor defines the
LaTeX math delimiters, which are ```\\(...\\)``` for in-line math, and ```\\[...\\]``` for
displayed equations. It also defines the TeX delimiters ```$$...$$``` for displayed
equations, but it does not define ```$...$``` as in-line math delimiters. To enable in-line math delimiter with ```$...$```, please use the following configuration:
{% highlight r %}
{% endhighlight %}
### A Couple of Examples
Here's a short list of examples. To know more about the details behind MathJax, you can
always checked the provided documentation available at
[http://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/](http://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/)
Let's try a first example. Here's a dummy equation:
$$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$
How do you write such expression? Very simple: using **double dollar** signs
{% highlight r %}
$$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$$
{% endhighlight %}
To display inline math use ```\\( ... \\)``` like this ```\\( sin(x^2) \\)``` which gets
rendered as \\( sin(x^2) \\)
Here's another example using type ```\mathsf```
{% highlight r %}
$$ \mathsf{Data = PCs} \times \mathsf{Loadings} $$
{% endhighlight %}
which gets displayed as
$$ \mathsf{Data = PCs} \times \mathsf{Loadings} $$
Or even better:
{% highlight r %}
\\[ \mathbf{X} = \mathbf{Z} \mathbf{P^\mathsf{T}} \\]
{% endhighlight %}
is displayed as
\\[ \mathbf{X} = \mathbf{Z} \mathbf{P^\mathsf{T}} \\]
If you want to use subscripts like this \\( \mathbf{X}\_{n,p} \\) you need to scape the
underscores with a backslash like so ``` \mathbf{X}\_{n,p} ```:
{% highlight r %}
$$ \mathbf{X}\_{n,p} = \mathbf{A}\_{n,k} \mathbf{B}\_{k,p} $$
{% endhighlight %}
will be displayed as
\\[ \mathbf{X}\_{n,p} = \mathbf{A}\_{n,k} \mathbf{B}\_{k,p} \\]