[qd6pwu4]

Yes, it's a pain to write math related manuscripts.

Normal texts are a simple character list, so they are easy to input. Math equations are much more complex, with more symbols, 2D placement. So we need to 'mark up' the normal texts to provide enough information for a proper math equation.

Current machine learning can help translate hand-written equations into the one computer can understand, I think this can help a lot. However, if we want to use keyboard only, it still seems very hard to design a system that can input math as smooth as texts without 'mark up' or GUI.

[runarberg]

I gave this problem a stab a few years ago. I wrote an ascii-math derived language (but more powerful, and a little easier) called MathUp. I planed for it to be quick to write and easy to read (kind of like markdown for math). However it is not nearly as powerful as latex (and I don’t plan for it to be). Target are people that are writing quick math-notes (e.g. in class), or on forums where participants don’t necessarily know latex but might need to write a non-trivial equation or two.

https://runarberg.github.io/mathup/