Should MathJaX be pointed out to new users?

Question

On a very regular basis we see new users that are not accustomed with the use of MathJaX on MSE. Sometimes even some users that aren't that new to the site. Most of us, when this happens, kindly bring to this users attention that there is a MathJax basic tutorial and quick reference and give a proper link.

Now this is not a bad habit at all, because you can't expect new users to magically know this. My idea however was that we could promote this a bit more actively.

For instance: a new user is taken by the hand when he/she is taking the tour. Would it not be to this new user's benefit to point out in the tour, that we write our maths in MathJaX. For example place a link to -MathJax basic tutorial and quick reference- or even a link to a -MathJaX tour page- (which would probably have the same structure as the normal tour page). And perhaps even -but this is really going ahead of things- award a badge for reading this page too.

This was a thought of mine that I wanted to share. I would like to know how the community feels about this. Or perhaps someone could make clear why this would not be helpfull.

Answer 1

The motivation behind your idea is good; after all, the lack of MathJax editing can stir up confusion for both the asker and the helper. We all know MathJax's benefits. However, I'm not quite sure that adding a "tutorial" of some sort would really help out- it's easy to skip through the tutorial steps, especially when someone posts their homework question at 2:30 a.m., the night before their assignment is due one is eager to present their question in a quick manner.

Furthermore, having the ability to edit others' posts provides an opportunity for newcomers to rack up some reputation points, so that they could take a stronger and more active role in Math.SE. Of course, you could counter that argument with the points awarded rate (2 per edit) isn't very high (though a few edits could have you commenting very quickly), and there will always be an abundance of non-MathJax editing issues to solve (i.e., poor grammar and spelling).

I think a neat idea would be to have a reference page. I personally learned most of MathJax by looking at others' posts with similar symbols that I would need in my post, copying and pasting that code when I click "edit," and then using that code in my answer to a different problem. For example: I needed to answer a factorial sum problem a couple weeks ago. I didn't know how to use the sigma notation on MathJax, so I simply browsed around until I found a thread with a sigma notation in a response. I clicked "edit" of the post that had it, and saw how to code it.

This isn't always sufficient; sometimes there are obscure math symbols that take a little browsing to find. Of course, upon searching for that symbol, one does end up learning a lot of math by casually browsing...

...but yeah, I think a reference page would be a neat idea.

Answer 2

Yes, it should. It took me 5 mins. to locate a pointer to a tutorial (in fact, the one in the question) to add as a comment in response to a new user's MathJax-free question. And I am moderately familiar with the site.

Either the tour or the 'Ask Question' page should have a suitable pointer.

Answer 3

I just joined today, and it took me a few minutes to locate a tutorial for syntax, but it wasn't too difficult.

I think it would be useful to have this tutorial available in a more obvious place or perhaps sent along with the registration email.

Answer 4

That's a really good suggestion. I'm relatively new here and had no idea that MathJax even existed. Your suggestion made me aware of it so thank you. The link should be given with the email.