# Encouraging the use of MathJax in questions

Questions without $\LaTeX$ are pretty annoying and, even though the users might get motivated by seeing questions with it, shouldn't the site be more active encouraging its use?

Is this a real problem? If it is, could a badge solve it?

• Badges are not really offered per-site, and most SE sites do not have MathJax enabled. – user642796 Dec 9 '14 at 5:23
• I see. Isn't there anything else that could be done to promote it? – hjhjhj57 Dec 9 '14 at 5:26

First of all, several questions do not require $\LaTeX$. I do not have a statistic on how many questions require $\LaTeX$ but I know that there are quite a few which are simply text, although, agreeably this is slightly rare.
Second, a badge would not resolve the issue much. You can teach a $\LaTeX$ dog new tricks, but not when they are interesting only in getting an answer to their question. If they do not know $\LaTeX$ and are desperate, they will post in whatever formatting they can and not care about how readable their question is. Usually, people who care about making their posts understandable and convenient to read are those who care about getting badges $-$ this is not a strict correlation but, IMHO, this is pretty accurate. Therefore, I think adding a badge (especially since it would be bronze) wouldn't change things much.
• Also Physics, Cross-Validated, and I believe DSP and TCS as well. All should have $\LaTeX$ enabled. Maybe Math-Eds and possibly HSM too. – Asaf Karagila Dec 9 '14 at 15:58