Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Finnucane 3404 days ago
This is a problem. In epub, you can use MathML, but support on reading systems is spotty. You could embed something like MathJax, but that would also depend on there being scripting support (not all systems have it). On the Kindle, there is none--no Latex, no MathML, no scripting, nothing for math support at all. Your only choice is graphics. SVG or high-res PNG works best. Though on a Kindle, there's no "S" in the SVG (i.e, the Kindle can't actually scale SVG). Occasionally we do a math-heavy econ book here, and it is always a compromise.
1 comments

What is your opinion on publishing a math-heavy e-book (like, equations on every page, inline and offset)? I don't think I will be able to do better than having a physical book paired with a pay-to-download PDF.
I guess it comes down to what the market is, how much work it would take to do the conversions, and what compromises you're willing to take. Inline math is easier to deal with, usually it's just a matter of making sure the characters display correctly. Complex multi-line math is where things start to fall down. If this is a specialized technical reference that is of interest to 500 people, it might not be worth a lot of work to sell 20 copies on Kindle.