# LaTeX like Math.SE

I quite like how the Mathematics Stackexchange site's LaTeX looks, and I know that they have a LaTeX functionality by running MathJax on the site. What fonts/packages are available to achieve this look?

example question

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The mathematics seem to use the very default LaTeX setting: default font (CM/LM), default size (if that can be measured on a web-page etc. I'm not sure whether this answers your question, because I'm not sure that we can speak about "packages" in connection with MathJax. –  tohecz Aug 16 '12 at 17:36
@tohecz This might be system-dependent. When I right-click on the linked MathJax and take a look at 'about' I get 'using local STIX fonts'. –  Joseph Wright Aug 16 '12 at 17:45
@JosephWright "Firefox v3.5.15 — otf fonts" in my case. This means that there's no single answer to the question... –  tohecz Aug 16 '12 at 18:19
Ah ok, in any case then, thanks. –  Zvpunry Aug 16 '12 at 18:26
I think maybe even browswer dependent. Things look quite differently for me on all these stackexchange websites depending on whether I'm using conkeror (Mozilla-based) or, say, Chromium (which gives me annoying capitals for TeX.SE). –  jon Aug 16 '12 at 18:52

As MathJax renders the output locally, the visual appearance is system-dependent. You can see what fonts are being used by right-clicking on the MathJax and choosing 'About MathJax'. For example, in my case I get 'using local STIX fonts' (amongst other things), which makes sense as I have these installed in my system tree. On the other hand, tohecz reports 'otf fonts', presumably Computer Modern or Latin Modern math fonts.

Checking the MathJax font help, it says

MathJax will use the STIX fonts if they are installed on your computer. This will improve MathJax’s speed when it typesets the mathematics on any page, so it is to your advantage to download and install one of these fonts, though MathJax will still work even if you don’t install the fonts yourself.

To use STIX, I would probably favour using the unicode-math package with XeTeX or LuaTeX, e.g.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{STIXGeneral}
\begin{document}
$y = mx + c$
\end{document}


although to be honest the XITS bundle is probably a better bet at present.

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