Python Markdown messed up math formula

Question

When converting the content from markdown to HTML format, the following math function

${\{y_{i}, x_{i1}, ..., x_{id}\}}_{i=1}^{n}$

got converted to

${{y_{i}, x_{i1}, ..., x_{id}}}<em>{i=1}^{n}$

Is there a way to tell Python's Markdown not doing this? Thanks!

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 22 '19 at 15:30

Yes, the math syntax conflicts with Markdown's syntax. You need to tell the parser to not treat that as Markdown.

You have a few different ways to do that:

Wrap the Math function in raw HTML. Markdown is not processed inside raw block-level HTML. So wrap your math in a div:
```
<div>${\{y_{i}, x_{i1}, ..., x_{id}\}}_{i=1}^{n}$</div>
```
Use a third-party extension (also here) which offers a way to mark up a section of a document as Math. You need to install one of the extensions and then tell Python-Markdown to use it.For example, to install Python-Markdown-Math, do the following:
```
pip install python-markdown-math
```
Then, in your Python code, you can tell Markdown to use the extension:
```
markdown.markdown(src, extensions=['mdx-math'])
```
Note that in order to avoid conflicts with dollar signs used for for designating money (normal usage), most of the extensions do not support using single dollar sign as a wrapper. In that case, you will need to use double-dollar signs ($$...$$). Or you could turn on support for single dollar signs like this:
```
markdown.markdown(
    src, 
    extensions=['mdx_math'], 
    extension_configs={
        'mdx_math': {'enable_dollar_delimiter': True}
    }
)
```
As an aside, the Arithmatex Extension offers support for single dollar signs by default. However, it is part of a larger package of extensions. If you only need the one, Python-Markdown-Math will serve you just fine (each is developed by a different member of the Python-Markdown team).

1 Answers1