## Math notation in blogs

[Update 2 of 2011/11/07:]
Inline mathematical content is often too high relative to the line, such as with symbols that sticking that should extend below the normal baseline: for example, compare $y$ to $x$, and look at $Q(x)$. The cause, it seems, is that the math is rendered as an embedded image, with its bottom aligned with the baseline of the surrounding test. For now, my way out is to put most formulas on a line of their own, with any related text inside, in mbox environments,

$\mbox{like}, y = Q(x), w \le x,\, \mbox{for example.}$

[Update of 2011/11/07:]
I have now learnt how to add mathematical mark-up to blogs at blogs.cofc.edu with the plug-in “Jetpack by WordPress.com” mentioned below.
That plug-in is installed for this site, but to use it on a particular blog, you must activate it, for which the steps are roughly:

2. At left, select plug-ins
3. Find JetPack by WordPress.com and select “Activate”. (Settings are not needed for the latex part: Jetpack does lots of things!)
4. Go to the bottom of the plug-ins page and click button “Apply”.
5. You will be asked to cite a wordpress.com account: if you do not already have one, create one when asked. This account is free (and wordpress.com a nice place for a personal blog), and you will need to confirm that account creation by responding to an email message.
6. Here I get fuzzy … I think some confirmation is asked for.

To learn about using this feature, see the item LaTeX at http://jetpack.me/ or the more detailed introduction at http://en.support.wordpress.com/latex/

If these instructions need revision, let me know in a comment on this post.

[Original:]
One nice feature of the WordPress blogging system used by blogs.cofc.edu is that it allows typing mathematical notation, using LaTeX notation, so I will make some tests and provide some examples here.

However, this is a feature of the WordPress.com hosting site, not of all sites edited with WordPress software. So to fill the gap, you [or your blog server] need a plug-in like Jetpack from Jetpack.me

Hopefully this will then allow typing in my current favorite equation, the general form for a hamiltonian system, as

$\displaystyle \frac{dy}{dt}=J \nabla H$.

Check back soon and see if it works, with which browsers, and so on.