ASCII MATH Syntax

Source : http://asciimath.org/

Syntax

Most AsciiMath symbols attempt to mimic in text what they look like rendered, like oo for $\infty$. Many symbols can also be displayed using a TeX alternative, but a preceeding backslash is not required.

Operation symbols

Type	TeX alt	See
+		$+$
–		$-$
*	cdot	$\cdot$
**	ast	$\ast$
***	star	$\star$
//		$/$
\\	backslash setminus	$\backslash$
xx	times	$\times$
-:	div	$÷$
|><	ltimes	$⋉$
><|	rtimes	$⋊$
|><|	bowtie	$\bowtie$
@	circ	$\circ$
o+	oplus	$\oplus$
ox	otimes	$\otimes$
o.	odot	$\odot$
sum		$\sum$
prod		$\prod$
^^	wedge	$\wedge$
^^^	bidwedge	$\bigwedge$
vv	vee	$\vee$
vvv	bigvee	$\bigvee$
nn	cap	$\cap$
nnn	bigcap	$\bigcap$
uu	cup	$\cup$
uuu	bigcup	$\bigcup$

 

Miscellaneous symbols

Type	TeX alt	See
2/3	frac{2}{3}	$\frac{2}{3}$
2^3		$2^3$
sqrt x		$\sqrt{x}$
root(3)(x)		$\sqrt[3]{3x}$
int		$\int$
oint		$\oint$
del	partial	$\partial$
grad	nabla	$\nabla$
+-	pm	$\pm$
O/	emptyset	$\varnothing$
oo	infty	$\infty$
aleph		$\aleph$
:.	therefore	$\therefore$
:’	because	$\because$
|…|	|ldots|	$|\dots |$
|cdots|		$|\cdots |$
vdots		$⋮$
ddots		$\ddots$
|\ |		$\left|\right|$
|quad|		$\left|\right|$
/_	angle	$\angle$
frown		$⌢$
/_\	triangle	$△$
diamond		$\diamond$
square		$\square$
|__	lfloor	$\lfloor$
__|	rfloor	$\rfloor$
|~	lceiling	$\lceil$
~|	rceiling	$\rceil$
CC		$C$
NN		$N$
QQ		$Q$
RR		$R$
ZZ		$Z$
« hi »	text(hi)	$\text{hi}$

 

Relation symbols

Type	TeX alt	See
=		$=$
!=	ne	$\ne$
<	lt	$<$
>	gt	$>$
<=	le	$\le$
>=	ge	$\ge$
-<	prec	$\prec$
-<=	preceq	$⪯$
>-	succ	$\succ$
>-=	succeq	$⪰$
in		$\in$
!in	notin	$\notin$
sub	subset	$\subset$
sup	supset	$\supset$
sube	subseteq	$\subseteq$
supe	supseteq	$\supseteq$
-=	equiv	$\equiv$
~=	cong	$\cong$
~~	approx	$\approx$
prop	propto	$\propto$

Logical symbols

Type	TeX alt	See
and		$\text{and}$
or		$\text{or}$
not	neg	$\neg$
=>	implies	$\Rightarrow$
if		$if$
<=>	iff	$\iff$
AA	forall	$\forall$
EE	exists	$\exists$
_|_	bot	$\perp$
TT	top	$\top$
|–	vdash	$⊢$
|==	models	$\models$

 

Grouping brackets

Type	TeX alt	See
(		$($
)		$)$
[		$[$
]		$]$
{		$\{$
}		$\}$
(:	langle	$⟨$
🙂	rangle	$⟩$
<<		$⟨$
>>		$⟩$
{: x )		$x)$
( x :}		$(x$
abs(x)		$\left|x\right|$
floor(x)		$\lfloor x\rfloor$
ceil(x)		$\lceil x\rceil$
norm(vecx)		$\parallel \overrightarrow{x}\parallel$

Arrows

Type	TeX alt	See
uarr	uparrow	$\uparrow$
darr	downarrow	$\downarrow$
rarr	rightarrow	$\to$
->	to	$\to$
>->	rightarrowtail	$\rightarrowtail$
->>	twoheadrightarrow	$\twoheadrightarrow$
>->>	twoheadrightarrowtail	$⤖$
|->	mapsto	$\mapsto$
larr	leftarrow	$\leftarrow$
harr	leftrightarrow	$\leftrightarrow$
rArr	Rightarrow	$\Rightarrow$
lArr	Leftarrow	$\Leftarrow$
hArr	Leftrightarrow	$\iff$

 

Accents

Type	TeX alt	See
hat x		$\hat{x}$
bar x	overline x	$\overline{x}$
ul x	underline x	$\underset{–}{x}$
vec x		$\overrightarrow{x}$
dot x		$\stackrel{.}{x}$
ddot x		$\stackrel{..}{x}$
overset(x)(=)	overset(x)(=)	$\stackrel{x}{=}$
underset(x)(=)		$\underset{x}{=}$
ubrace(1+2)	underbrace(1+2)	$\underset{}{1+2}$
obrace(1+2)	overbrace(1+2)	$\stackrel{}{1+2}$
color(red)(x)		$x$
cancel(x)		$x$

Greek Letters

Type	See	Type	See
alpha	$\alpha$
beta	$\beta$
gamma	$\gamma$	Gamma	$\Gamma$
delta	$\delta$	Delta	$\Delta$
epsilon	$\epsilon$
varepsilon	$\varepsilon$
zeta	$\zeta$
eta	$\eta$
theta	$\theta$	Theta	$\Theta$
vartheta	$\vartheta$
iota	$\iota$
kappa	$\kappa$
lambda	$\lambda$	Lambda	$\Lambda$
mu	$\mu$
nu	$\nu$
xi	$\xi$	Xi	$\Xi$
pi	$\pi$	Pi	$\Pi$
rho	$\rho$
sigma	$\sigma$	Sigma	$\Sigma$
tau	$\tau$
upsilon	$\upsilon$
phi	$\varphi$	Phi	$\Phi$
varphi	$\phi$
chi	$\chi$
psi	$\psi$	Psi	$\Psi$
omega	$\omega$	Omega	$\Omega$

 

Font commands

Type	See
bb « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$
bbb « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$
cc « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$
tt « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$
fr « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$
sf « AaBbCc »	$\text{AaBbCc}$

 

Standard Functions

sin, cos, tan, sec, csc, cot, arcsin, arccos, arctan, sinh, cosh, tanh, sech, csch, coth, exp, log, ln, det, dim, mod, gcd, lcm, lub, glb, min, max, f, g.

 

Special Cases

Matrices: [[a,b],[c,d]] yields to $\left[\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right]$

Column vectors: ((a),(b)) yields to $\left(\begin{array}{c}a\\ b\end{array}\right)$

Matrices can be used for layout: {(2x,+,17y,=,23),(x,-,y,=,5):} yields$\{\begin{array}{ccccc}2x& +& 17y& =& 23\\ x& -& y& =& 5\end{array}$

Complex subscripts: lim_(N->oo) sum_(i=0)^N yields to $\underset{N\to \infty }{lim}\sum _{i=0}^N$

Subscripts must come before superscripts: int_0^1 f(x)dx yields to ${\int }_0^{1}f\left(x\right)dx$

Derivatives: f'(x) = dy/dx yields $f‘\left(x\right)=\frac{dy}{dx}$
For variables other than x,y,z, or t you will need grouping symbols: (dq)/(dp) for $\frac{dq}{dp}$

Overbraces and underbraces: ubrace(1+2+3+4)_("4 terms") yields $\underset{\text{4 terms}}{\underset{}{}}$.
obrace(1+2+3+4)^("4 terms") yields $\stackrel{\text{4 terms}}{\stackrel{}{}}$.

Attention: Always try to surround the > and < characters with spaces so that the html parser does not confuse it with an opening or closing tag!

 

The Grammar

Here is a definition of the grammar used to parse AsciiMath expressions. In the Backus-Naur form given below, the letter on the left of the ::= represents a category of symbols that could be one of the possible sequences of symbols listed on the right. The vertical bar | separates the alternatives.

v ::= [A-Za-z] | greek letters | numbers | other constant symbols
u ::= sqrt | text | bb | other unary symbols for font commands
b ::= frac | root | stackrel | other binary symbols
l ::= ( | [ | { | (: | {: | other left brackets
r ::= ) | ] | } | :) | :} | other right brackets
S ::= v | lEr | uS | bSS             Simple expression
I ::= S_S | S^S | S_S^S | S          Intermediate expression
E ::= IE | I/I                       Expression