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# How do I use the Math Editor in the Rich Content Editor as an instructor?

## How do I use the Math Editor in the Rich Content Editor as an instructor?

The Rich Content Editor will be discontinued in a future release. You can enable the New Rich Content Editor feature in course feature options.

Canvas has an integrated tool for math and science formulas based on LaTeX, the industry standard for academic publication. The LaTeX Math Editor is built into the Rich Content Editor. The Rich Content Editor is used in features that support the editor (Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Pages, Quizzes, or Syllabus). Canvas also includes the option to create equations and expressions with its graphical point-and-click editor.

The Math Editor can be used for basic mathematical formatting for introductory math courses or for more advanced mathematical text for higher-level math courses. Both students and instructors have access to the editor.

Note: To have characters #, $, %, &, ^, _, {, and } appear in the Rich Content Editor, when your equation is inserted, you must use Advanced View and type a backslash (\) before the character. The ~ character can be inserted through Advanced View by typing \~~. The$ character can be inserted through Basic View by typing \.

## Open Rich Content Editor

Open the Rich Content Editor using one of the Canvas features which support the Editor.

## Open Math Editor

Click the Equation icon to open the Math Editor. A pop-up window will appear in your browser.

## Create Basic Math Equation

Use the Math Editor toolbar [1] to insert a equation in the equation field [2].

Note: You can click Switch View to Advanced to type or copy and paste in LaTeX [3]. In Advanced View, do not use

"\begin

Unknown macro: {equation}

\end"

to avoid receiving an error.

## Insert Equation

Click Insert Equation.

In the Rich Content Editor, you can add text around your equations.

## Save Changes

Click the Save button to save any changes to the post made in the Rich Content Editor.

Note: When using the Rich Content Editor in Assignments, Discussions, Pages, and Quizzes, you have the option to Save & Publish. When using the Rich Content Editor in the Syllabus and Discussions pages, the Save button may appear as “Update Syllabus” or “Post Reply”.

## View Content

View the mathematical tex and/or chemical formulas or equations you created.

Is there any plan to update the Math Editor to include the LaTex codes commonly used for Geometry, like \overleftrightarrow, \overgroup, and \overparenthesis?  Currently it recognizes some, but not all codes needed to correctly specify lines and arcs and other Geometry-related notations.

@PatriciaW I'm not aware of any plans that have been publicly announced regarding updates to the LaTeX editor in the RCE, but it sounds like a useful addition. Please consider adding this to the Idea Conversations space as a feature idea for future improvement.

Can the math content include variables (in a formula question)?

Cody

@Jayson  Joint with me and my crew.  Everyone said yes to me. I will you guys. We monsters of earth. The name is Thunder Kaiju. Welcome to the monster verse. I create Dream works World. You will work with me. 🐉 I have the Dinobots. My mom helps me.

Hi @405992,

Welcome to the Canvas Community! The Canvas Community is a global resource which holds how-to guides and forums to help users find answers to Canvas-related questions. However, these comments are not connected directly to Canvas or students in your courses. To access Canvas courses to submit assignments, respond to course discussions, etc. you'll need to log into your school's Canvas instance (https://bsd.instructure.com/). For more information about how to access Canvas, submit assignments, respond to discussions, etc., check out the Canvas Student Guide.

Naomi

@CanvasDocTeam : I looked through those pages.  Unfortunately, I didn't see the answer to my question.  If I'm simply missing it, please point me to the specifics.  Maybe what I'm looking to do wasn't clear.  Suppose I have a formula question with a randomly generated variable.  In it, I'd like to have a math display, perhaps using LaTeX.  I'd like that display to include the variable.  So, something like \frac{3}[[n]!}, where Canvas assigns different values to [n].  Is this possible?

I think I have a similar question to @Michael_Lang - I want each of my 100 students to receive the same fact pattern in the stimulus with different values. I'm an accounting professor, so for my class, each student would receive a balance sheet with different values in the stimulus. I would then use the formula questions to ask various questions about the stimulus.

Thanks!

Hi @Michael_Lang and @KSchuchard,

I wish I knew as much about math as the two of you to give the answers you are looking for. You may want to post this in the Question Forum or the Instructor Group so others with more experience in this area can provide a better answer for you.

Cody

Posted! Thanks @CanvasDocTeam