Welcome to Writing Math in LaTeX, the third course in your LaTeX learning path! In the first two courses, you learned how to create documents, format text, and organize content with headings, lists, tables, and figures. Now it is time to unlock one of LaTeX's greatest strengths: beautifully typeset mathematics. In this first lesson, you will explore how to enter math mode and learn the difference between writing math inline with your text and placing it on display as a standalone expression.
In a regular LaTeX document, everything you type is treated as ordinary text. But mathematical notation has its own rules — symbols like , , and need special spacing, letters should appear in italics to denote variables, and expressions like fractions or exponents require their own layout logic. That is exactly what math mode is for.
When you switch into math mode, LaTeX changes how it interprets your input. It treats letters as mathematical variables, adjusts spacing around operators, and enables commands for things like superscripts or Greek letters. Think of it as flipping a switch from "text writing" to "math writing." There are two main ways to flip that switch: inline math and display math.
With that mental model in place, let's look at each mode in detail, starting with inline math.
