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It seems like there are a fair number of questions/answers involving math:

Some things, like CO2 -> CO2 can be done with html: CO<sub>2</sub>. But that's awkward. MathJax code for that is simply: CO_2. It also allows fractions to be easily formatted.

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I did some searching on meta.stackexchange.com and what I read about MathJax is that it's only activated for sites that use it a lot, like Math, Physics, Chemistry. This is because enabling MathJax adds a significant delay to page loading on all pages of a SE site, no matter if the page contains formulas or not. Since only a small amount of questions here would benefit from MathJax, I don't think that the advantages outweigh this slower page loading.

More information:

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I have triggered the same request on RaspberryPi.SE a while ago and even though I think that it has its benefits it was turned down by the community. Here on SL my feeling is that it might make some posts look nicer, simplify typesetting of a few posts, but that it is not really necessary as most posts are really not that math- or formula-heavy.

In coming to a decission there are some noteworthy drawbacks: MathJax might not render well (uhm, or not at all) on every device (i.e. no JavaScript enabled) and it makes a page render slower.

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    Another drawback: if someone includes two dollar signs in a paragraph, then instead of rendering them as dollars, it instead renders the text in between as Mathjax. I suspect we have more posts that Mathjax would render wrongly, than posts where it would enhance readability.
    – 410 gone Mod
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 19:53
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My keyboard also has keystroke combinations for (Unicode) superscripts and subscripts. My point being that many of the formulas can also be achieved directly in the font without needing HTML markup, nor MathJax. You can take Wikipedia's Unicode subscripts and superscripts as a reference sheet.

How is NOₓ mg/km from diesel cars and trucks related to µg/m³ in the air?

CO₂

I would think that 95% of posts with formatting issues could also be resolved this way.

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  • Yes, but remembering/finding all of those unicode keystrokes is quite a task. But perhaps that's just me being lazy, since I already know the MathJax code from LaTeX!
    – LShaver Mod
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 22:57

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