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A formula editor is a computer program that is used to typeset mathematical formulas and mathematical expressions.
Formula editors typically serve two purposes:
- They allow word processing and publication of technical content either for print publication, or to generate raster images for web pages or screen presentations.
- They provide a means for users to specify input to computational systems that is easier to read and check than plain text input and output from computational systems that is easy to understand or ready for publication.
Content for formula editors can be provided manually using a markup language, e.g. TeX or MathML, via a point-and-click GUI, or as computer generated results from symbolic computations such as Mathematica.
Typical features include the ability to nest fractions, radicals, superscripts, subscripts, overscripts and underscripts together with special characters such as mathematical symbols, arrows and scalable parentheses.
Some systems are capable of re-formatting formulae into simpler forms or to adjust line-breaking automatically, while preserving the mathematical meaning of a formula.
Available systems
| Name | Keyboard input | GUI input | Handwriting recognition | TeX support | MathML support | Raster export | Automatic expression layout | Computation support | Platform | Notes | Output formats | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aibase | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Windows | Diagramming with formula editor for UnicodeMath | MathML, SVG | No |
| Alfred's Equation Editor (AlfredEq) | Yes but limited | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Flash Player | An embedded app to edit mathematical expressions on CMS/LMS/Blog web pages. | No | |
| Atito Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Android,Web | Formula editor combined with embedded solver, graphs | LaTeX, PDF, PNG | No |
| AxMath | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows | AxMath is an interactive WYSIWYG formula editor which has a scrollable symbol panel and supports semantic math input. | PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF, EMF, LaTeX | No |
| Aurora | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Microsoft Office addon. Renders using TeX. | |||
| Install Archived 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Actively updated Google Docs add-on. Renders using TeX. Install Archived 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine | |||
| Calcinator Math Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Web, iOS | Web GUI generates pure HTML math and LaTeX | HTML, LaTeX | No |
| Cassiopeia | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mac OS X | Scientific Wordprocessing for Mac OS X | ||
| CodeCogs Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Beta | Yes | Yes | No | Web | Produces HTML and graphics for inclusion of equations in any website. Can download graphics in various formats for use in reports and publications. Plugins for CK Editor, Tiny MCE, etc. | PNG, JPG, SVG, SWF, EMF, MathML, LaTeX, URL | |
| CodeCogs Excel Render | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | MS Excel | Add-in to convert formulas into equations. Works offline and can also request 100% LaTaX from the online CodeCogs servers. | ||
| Collabora Office Math | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Online and Windows, Linux, Mac | Tool to create formulae that can be embedded inside other suite documents | png, jpg, pdf, html, xml, OLE. EPUB math-objects are not included in EPUB yet. | Yes |
| Daum Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Chrome browser, Mac | Free Math equation editor for Chrome browser and Mac | PNG, LaTeX | No |
| EQ Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | iOS | iOS native app. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eq-editor/id468981237] | PDF, PNG, MathML, LaTeX | No |
| equ | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Windows, Linux, Mac | Hybrid CLI or GUI app | PNG | Yes |
| DragMath | Yes but limited | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Java applet. Open source. supports AsciiMathML. Integrations with a VLE such as Moodle. | MathML, LaTeX | Yes | |
| WebEQ Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Web | A Design Science product that has reached End of Life; replaced with MathFlow Software Development Kit | No | |
| Equation Maker for Mac | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Mac | Available on Mac App Store | PDF, PNG | No | |
| Equation Notepad for Android | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | For the Android mobile operating system. Can export LaTeX. | |||
| EqualX Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Windows, Linux | Easy to use for beginners and advanced users. Highly customisable interface. | EPS, PS, PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG, TEX | Yes |
| Firemath | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Addon for the Firefox web browser. | Yes | ||
| Formula Sheet Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Online LaTeX equation editor with real-time .png, .pdf, and .tex output. Customizable resolution, font, and color. One click copy to MS Word 2007+ using MathML. | |||
| Formulator MathML Weaver | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Dual-licensing (Open source and commercial). There is a special edition that works within a browser (using Silverlight plugin). | |||
| FxSolver | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes (print as PDF) | Yes | No | Web | Free. Registration needed only to share worksheets. | No | |
| IguanaTex | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Free PowerPoint plugin for inserting LaTeX equations | |||
| iMathEQ editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Web (Win, Mac, iOS, Android) | iMathEQ editor is an online WYSIWYG formula editor which can be easily integrated with online systems, like learning management system | PNG, MathML, SVG, LaTeX | No |
| Jex | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Designed to insert and edit equations in Openoffice | ||||||
| Ket | Yes | Yes | No | Partial only | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Cross-platform (Java) | Ket provides commands to enable the user to solve back-of-the-envelope calculations. | ket, txt, png (single or sequence), LaTeX, HTML | Yes |
| KFormula | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ||||||
| LaTeX4technics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Web | Interactive online WYSIWYG LaTeX editor. Over 400 math symbols. Various helper programs e.g. for matrix input or colouring. Autocompletion and syntax highlighting | PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, PDF, MathML, LaTeX | |
| LaTeXiT | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Mac OS X unofficial universal binary. Open source. | ||||
| LibreOffice Math | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Windows, Linux, Mac | Tool to create formulae that can be embedded inside other suite documents | png, jpg, pdf, html, xml, OLE. EPUB math-objects are not included in EPUB yet. | Yes |
| LiveMath | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Windows, Mac, Linux | LiveMath Maker, LiveMath View, LiveMath Plugins available. | No | ||||
| LyX | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | LyX has a WYSIWYM ("what you see is what you mean") approach. Open Source | PDF, DVI, LaTeX, Text, Postscript | Yes | |||
| Maple | Yes | Yes | characters only | export only | export only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows, Linux, Mac | LaTeX, MathML, PDF | No | |
| Mathcad | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows and Mac OS X (a 1998 version only) | HTML + jpeg | No | |
| Mathcha Editor Mathcha | Yes | Yes | Character only | Yes | Yes | Yes (SVG, or print as PDF) | Yes | No | Web | Mathcha editor is an online WYSIWYG formula editor that provides very fast formula inputting, diagram(support drawing and insert math formula in diagram), saving documents and sharing materials (link, pdf, latex, png, SVG,...) | PNG, PDF, LaTeX, SVG | No |
| MathDox formula editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | JavaScript editor for creating OpenMath, Computations are now possible via external web services, but integration of these web services is under construction | Yes | ||
| MathEditor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Web | MathEditor is an online WYSIWYG formula editor which supports formula semantic recognition and advanced accessibility. Integrated with Computer Algebra Systems and plotting libraries. | json, LaTeX | No |
| Connexions' MathML Editor (Beta) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Javascript, WYSIWYG, Open Source, Content and Presentation MathML editor. Currently, the MathML editor is only supported in Mozilla Firefox. | Yes | ||
| Math Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Windows | Yes | ||
| Math I Can Do | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows, Mac, Linux, Web | Math editor with a focus on long-form documents such as homework. Uses ISO 80000-2 notation. Available as a desktop app or Web API. Computation supported as an experimental feature, with the optional capability to export to third-party computation tools. | LaTeX (standard and MathJax-friendly), MathML, SVG, PNG, JPEG, WEBP, PDF | No |
| Mathematica | Yes | Yes, called "palettes" | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac | CDF, PDF, EPS, LaTeX, HTML, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, JPEG200, OpenEXR, BMP, PICT, WMF, EMF, XBM, PCX, FITS, DICOM, NETCDF, SVG, DXF, AVI, FLV, Quicktime, SWF, RTF, ASCII | No | |
| MathQuill | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | via MathJS | Web | WYSIWYG DHTML LaTeX math editor in the Web browser. Currently only supports IE8+ and other modern browsers. | Yes | ||
| MathLive | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Web | JavaScript-based editor | LaTeX, MathML, CSS+HTML, speech | Yes | |
| MathType | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via Wolfram Alpha | Windows, Mac | Works with Microsoft Office, Apple Pages (et al.), Maple, Mathematica, iBooks Author, Gmail and over 800+ other applications and websites. Compatibility database | GIF, EPS, TeX, LaTeX, MathML, PICT & PDF (Mac), WMF (Windows) | No |
| MathMagic | Yes | Yes | Windows only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | via Wolfram Alpha | Windows, macOS (32-bit, 64-bit), Android, iOS | Also supports Microsoft Word equations, Wolfram Alpha to see the computation results and answers, MathJax, Google Docs equations, MathType equations, Wiki equations, AsciiMathML, and Text-To-Speech to read out math expressions. Personal Edition is for general purpose use. Pro Editions mainly used with Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress for desktop publishing. Comes with many math symbol fonts, Greek fonts, text body fonts in OpenType and TrueType format. System installed fonts are also supported. | PDF, SVG, EPS, PNG, Transparent PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, PICT, WMF, TIFF, Plain TeX, LaTeX, AMS LaTeX, MathML, ASCIIMath, Wolfram Alpha, Google Docs, Zoho, Text-To-Speech (Voice, Sentence) | No |
| MathCast | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Open source | Yes | ||
| MathFlow | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Windows, Mac | MathML | No | |
| Math-o-mir | Yes | Yes | No | No | export only | Yes | Yes | No | Intended to be used as math notepad. Freeware. | Yes | ||
| Math Expression Editor Light 1.2 (MEEL) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | .NET Framework component Math Expression Editor Light | No | ||
| Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Windows, Mac | Deprecated editor included in Microsoft Office products, based on limited version of MathType. | OLE | |
| Microsoft Word | Yes | Yes | (Only in Microsoft Word 2016 and later version) | partially | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Windows, Mac | A graphing-calculator plug-in is available for simple calculations and manipulations | MathML | |
| MiraiMath | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Java WYSIWYG Editor, Open Source. Can be used as alternative front end to GNU Octave | Yes | ||
| MyTexPoint | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | a small free program for inserting LaTeX equations into PowerPoint with a screen-shot tool | |||
| OpenOffice Math | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Windows, Linux, Mac | Tool to create formulae that can be embedded inside other suite documents | Yes | |
| Publicon | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Mathematica-based technical document system | No | ||
| Rapid-Pi | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Windows | Microsoft Word plugin | |||
| Scientific Word | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Windows | WYSIWYM LaTeX editor | ||
| Scientific WorkPlace | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Windows | WYSIWYM LaTeX editor with symbolic math and plotting | No | |
| Sentido | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | JavaScript editor for creating OpenMath | |||
| ShareMath.com | Yes but limited | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Flash Player | Create, share and remix equations on the web. Embeds AlfredEq | No | |
| Texify | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | An online LaTeX equation writer. Based on open source mimeTeX library. | |||
| TeXmacs | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, but can be integrated | Windows, Linux, Mac | Free and open-source scientific WYSIWYG text editor. It offers a user-friendly interface, extensive mathematical typesetting, rich text formatting, document structure organization, collaborative editing, and extensibility. It combines the convenience of a graphical editor with the typesetting capabilities of LaTeX. | HTML, LaTeX, MathML, PDF, Postscript | Yes |
| TexPoint | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | PowerPoint plugin for inserting LaTeX equations | |||
| TeXPPT | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Windows | Free PowerPoint 2010 plugin for inserting LaTeX equations, fully vector based, no rasters | ||
| TeXZilla | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Firefox Add-On | MathML | Yes | |
| Tinkutara Equation Editor | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Android | This is an Android only editor. | PNG, Latex | No |
| VisionObjects Equation Editor | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | A handwriting recognizer for LaTeX and MathML equations. | |||
| WIRIS editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Web | WIRIS editor has been re-branded MathType in 2018 | PNG, MathML, LaTeX, Flash | No |
| Name | Keyboard input | GUI input | Handwriting recognition | TeX support | MathML support | Raster export | Automatic expression layout | Computation support | Platform | Notes | Output formats | Open source |
See also
- TeX, a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth
- LaTeX, a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program
- MathML, an application of XML for describing mathematical notations and capturing both its structure and content. It aims at integrating mathematical formulae into World Wide Web pages and other documents. It is a recommendation of the W3C math working group
References
- "Collabora Office Math Features". Collabora Office.
- "The neat equations and formulas editor". libreoffice.org.