Re: non-math superscripts in LaTeX export

[Ken Mankoff <mankoff@gmail.com>]

I know pandoc is not the Org reference implementation, but digging into this further I noticed that pandoc exports a^{b} from Org to LaTeX the way I expected/hoped Org would:

$ echo "a^{b}" | pandoc -f Org -t latex
a\textsuperscript{b}

  -k.

On 2018-12-17 at 14:21 -0800, Ken Mankoff <mankoff@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This file:
>
> Math mode: a\(^{b}\)
> Non-math mode: a^{b}
> What I'd like: a\textsuperscript{b}
>
> Is exported to this LaTeX code:
>
> Math mode: a\(^{b}\)
> Non-math mode: a\(^{\text{b}}\)
> What I'd like: a\textsuperscript{b}
>
>
> When viewing a PDF from that LaTeX source, the first (Math mode) appears correct. The second (non-math) appears correct in the PDF, but I'm not sure it is in the LaTeX source. The third looks correct.
>
>
> A more severe end-product appearance issue comes downstream. I find Pandoc generates better ODT and DOCX files than Org when the inputs are complicated. When viewing a DOCX generated from the above LaTeX with:
>
> $ pandoc -f LaTeX -i foo.tex -t DOCX -o foo.docx foo.tex
>
> there is a more serious issue: The b power is not attached to the a, so there is an empty box and it looks like this (where ^b is actually raised as a superscript):  a[]^b. Or see attached screenshot.
>
> I've tried toggling #+OPTIONS ^:{} and ^:nil but it doesn't solve this. It seems to me like a^b should export as a\textsuperscript{b}. Do others agree? Or is this a pandoc bug I should be raising in that project?
>
> Thanks,
>
>   -k.