Using Inline Text Markup

Any text that appears on a plot, including titles, axis labels, colorbar labels, and text placed with Add Text, can contain inline markup. The Toolkit uses a subset of the “LaTeX” markup widely used in science and engineering.

Inline markup occurs between $ characters in your string:

This is some example text with an $\alpha$ character.  
This is some example text with an \alpha character.  

To put a literal $ symbol in your string, simply escape it:

Alphas ($\alpha$) are expensive: \$2 each!  
Alphas (\alpha) are expensive: $2 each!  

Ordinary letters appearing in markup will be treated as the names of mathematical variables, and will appear in italic font. You can manually specify the font using the following commands:

\mathrm{Roman} \mathrm{Roman}
\mathrm{Italic} \mathit{Italic}

For function names (like cos or sin), there’s a better way: see Function Names below.

If a string contains formatting mistakes or illegal characters, it will not be processed by the LaTeX system. Instead, the raw contents of the string will be displayed.

Example

Download Text Markup.vi, or see Examples for a complete list of examples.

../_images/TextExample.png

Basic Math

Result Code
a_i^j a_i^j
a_{sub}^{super} a_{sub}^{super}
\sqrt{a} \sqrt{a}
\sqrt[5]{a} \sqrt[5]{a}
\frac{a}{b} \frac{a}{b}
a = b a = b
a < b a < b
a > b a > b
a \leq b a \leq b
a \geq b a \geq b
a \ll b a \ll b
a \gg b a \gg b
a \approx b a \approx b
a \neq b a \neq b
a \times b a \times b
a \pm b a \pm b
\langle a \rangle \langle a \rangle
\{a\} \{ a \}
\vec{a} \vec{a}
\acute{a} \acute{a}
\bar{a} \bar{a}
\dot{a} \dot{a}
\ddot{a} \ddot{a}
\hat{a} \hat{a}

Math Symbols

Keep in mind that some symbols, notably \int, \prod, and \sum, have “smart” subscript and superscript support. For example, this code:

\int_{0}^{\infty} A(x) dx = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty} B_i

produces this result:

\int_{0}^{\infty} A(x) dx = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty} B_i

Symbol Code
\int \int
\iint \iint
\iiint \iiint
\oint \oint
\sum \sum
\prod \prod
\infty \infty
\nabla \nabla
\partial \partial
\star \star
\circ \circ
\sim \sim
\odot \odot
\oplus \ominus
\otimes \otimes
\parallel \parallel
\perp \perp
\leftarrow \leftarrow
\rightarrow \rightarrow
\uparrow \uparrow
\downarrow \downarrow

Function Names

Plain characters inside a markup block are treated as the names of mathematical variables. This is undesirable when e.g. the sine of x is desired; sin x is rendered as sin x. The correct approach is to use the explicit function name, via \sin{x}: \sin{x}.

Function Code
\sin{x} \sin{x}
\cos{x} \cos{x}
\tan{x} \tan{x}
\arcsin{x} \arcsin{x}
\arccos{x} \arccos{x}
\arctan{x} \arctan{x}
\exp{x} \exp{x}
\ln{x} \ln{x}
\log{x} \log{x}

Greek Characters

These can be used anywhere an ordinary letter is used.

Character Code
\alpha \alpha
\beta \beta
\chi \chi
\delta \delta
\epsilon \epsilon
\eta \eta
\gamma \gamma
\iota \iota
\kappa \kappa
\lambda \lambda
\mu \mu
\nu \nu
\omega \omega
\phi \phi
\pi \pi
\psi \psi
\rho \rho
\sigma \sigma
\tau \tau
\theta \theta
\upsilon \upsilon
\xi \xi
\zeta \zeta
\Delta \Delta
\Gamma \Gamma
\Lambda \Lambda
\Omega \Omega
\Phi \Phi
\Pi \Pi
\Psi \Psi
\Sigma \Sigma
\Theta \Theta
\Upsilon \Upsilon
\Xi \Xi