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Specifically, I cannot see any \mathcal symbol. The \mathbb symbols are also in a very weired font. Here are some examples and what I see on my browser: $$\mathcal{A},\mathcal{B},\mathcal{D},\mathcal{F},\mathcal{H},\mathcal{I},\mathcal{O},\mathcal{X},$$ $$\mathbb{A},\mathbb{C},\mathbb{F},\mathbb{H},\mathbb{N},\mathbb{O},\mathbb{X},\mathbb{Z},$$ $$\mathrm{d},\mathrm{B},\mathrm{F},\mathrm{H},\mathrm{P},\mathrm{Q},$$ $$\alpha, \beta, \gamma, \delta, \epsilon, \theta, \zeta.$$

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Related: math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/35635/42969, math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/35298/42969 $\endgroup$
    – Martin R
    Apr 23 at 6:21
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    $\begingroup$ Another question which seem related: Why using \mathcal command produce a square? (The question linked in the original version of the previous comment was: $\mathbb Q$ looking odd in my browser.) I see that now the above comment has been edited and it has both links - still perhaps it is a bit useful to keep here a version with the titles of those questions, too. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Apr 23 at 6:22
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    $\begingroup$ Now I really wonder if this has something to do with the possible bad interaction between MathJax and Chrome after the latter shipped MathML support in Chrome 109. It would be helpful to see if anyone with a Chrome < 109 is also affected. In the meantime, an issue could be filed at MathJax. $\endgroup$
    – Ѕᴀᴀᴅ
    Apr 24 at 14:24
  • $\begingroup$ Chrome 112 and Windows 10 user here, no issues with the rendering though. $\endgroup$
    – Andrew T.
    Apr 25 at 7:20

2 Answers 2

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The HTML-CSS renderer in MathJax v2 tries to detect whether there are local copies of the MathJax or STIX fonts and will use those in place of web-based fonts if they are available (to reduce the amount of information that a user must download over the network). Apple has shipped the STIX1 fonts as part of Mac OS and iOS for a number years, but in Ventura, they have switched to the STIX2 fonts. These are packaged differently (the STIX1 fonts came in 29 separate fonts, but STIX2 combines these into 5, one each for regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic, plus a math font). In order to try to keep things backward compatible, Apple still allows access to the STIX1 fonts by (what appears to be) mapping the original 29 fonts into the new 5 fonts. This is largely effective, but not completely. In particular, the calligraphic characters are not part of the Unicode standard, and so STIX includes them in the Private Use Are (PUA) of their fonts. Unfortunately, the location in the PUA Changed between STIX1 and STIX2, and Apple mapping from the old fonts to the new ones doesn't take that into account.

The upshot is, when MathJax asks the local system whether STIXGeneral-Regular (the old STIX1 font) is available, Ventura says "yes" and MathJax believes that the 29 original fonts are there, and tries to use them in the layout that the original fonts actually have. But in Ventura, the calligraphic characters are not in the same location, so you get the missing character symbol instead.

This issue only affects the HTML-CSS output, since it is the only one that uses local STIX fonts. So if you switch to the CommonHTML or SVG output (using the MathJax contextual menu if you are a user, or changing the configuration file if you manage the website), or configuring MathJax to not look for local STIX fonts, then that should show these characters as they should be. Also, version 3, and the upcoming version 4, doesn't use local STIX fonts, and so updating to a current version of MathJax would also resolve the issue.

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    $\begingroup$ You say that this should affect all browsers on Ventura, but I can not reproduce the problem with Safari or Firefox. $\endgroup$
    – Martin R
    May 20 at 13:52
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    $\begingroup$ I stand corrected. I didn't actually test it, but the cause is the way that Ventura implements its backward-compatibility for STIX1 using STIX2, and that shouldn't be browser dependent, but apparently is. Sorry for the incorrect info on that. I will edit that out of my answer. $\endgroup$
    – Davide Cervone
    May 20 at 18:07
  • $\begingroup$ This is a very good explanation of what's gone wrong on my laptop since going to Ventura, but I have no idea what or where the "MathJax contextual menu" is, nor of how to configure MathJax to do something. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    May 20 at 22:46
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    $\begingroup$ @GerryMyerson See: How do I change Math Renderer for MathJax? $\endgroup$
    – The Amplitwist
    May 21 at 4:41
  • $\begingroup$ @The, thanks. Actually, I knew how to do what it said there, and I have done it, I just didn't know that was the "MathJax contextual menu" and I didn't know what I was doing was configuring MathJax. So it was just a vocabulary problem. But: if I make that change on one page on math.stackexchange, does that change it on all of math.stackexchange? and on math.meta.stackexchange? and then I have to change it on mathoverflow? and the mathoverflow meta site? $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    May 21 at 13:22
  • $\begingroup$ @GerryMyerson The settings are site-specific and browser-specific. $\endgroup$
    – The Amplitwist
    May 21 at 13:28
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Davide's answer is excellent, but he sort of buries the fix. You need to right-click on the MathJax-rendered math and select

Math Settings > Math Renderer > SVG

instead of the default "HTML-CSS". This is illustrated below with screenshots of another Stack Exchange answer

Before:

enter image description here

Making change (right-click on math):

enter image description here

After:

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for making a nice tutorial to help people make the needed changes. $\endgroup$
    – Davide Cervone
    Aug 2 at 18:14

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