Re: math in parentheses

[Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com>]

Andreas Leha <andreas.leha@med.uni-goettingen.de> writes:

> Hi Richard,
>
> Richard Lawrence <richard.lawrence@berkeley.edu> writes:
>> Hi Andreas,
>>
>> Andreas Leha <andreas.leha@med.uni-goettingen.de> writes:
>>
>>> I encounter a problem using $..$ expressions when they are enclosed
>>> in parentheses.
>>
>>> This $T$ works, but ($T$) this does not.
>>>
>>> Is that expected behaviour?
>>>
>>> (Note that \(...\) expressions work.)
>>
>> Yes, that is the expected behavior.  Org is much pickier about when "$"
>> can be a math delimiter than "\( ... \)".  The reason is that "$" can
>> also be used as a regular symbol in Org documents; when it is, it should
>> be *not* be exported as a math delimiter to LaTeX, and distinguishing
>> non-math-delimiting from math-delimiting uses of "$" is not a trivial
>> matter.
>>
>> Thus, when in doubt, use "\( ... \)".
>>
>
> Thanks for following that up.  I do use \(...\) when I encounter
> problems with $...$ (which is a lot nicer to type and read).
>
> I am happy with using the fall-back \(...\) every now and then.
>
> Just for me to understand:  Is the problem the missing whitespace
> around the $...$ expression?
>

See

   http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/510/are-and-preferable-to-dollar-signs-for-math-mode

for some arguments for and (mostly) against (although one of the "for"s
is Frank Mittelbach - which surely tilts the scale quite a lot). FWIW,
I've trained myself to use \(...\) and don't find it any harder to read
than $...$ - and I don't mind the extra typing either.  The fact that
both org and MathJax deal better with \(...\) just reinforces that
choice.

Nick