Should we report $\LaTeX$/MathJax issues in meta?

Question

Should we report $\LaTeX$/MathJax issues in meta?? If so here is something I recently found: The following code (edit to see it) effects the line break behaviour:

 \frac{\text{numerator}}\\\text{denominator missing, linebreak doesn't work} 

$$ \frac{\text{numerator}}\\\Rightarrow\text{denominator was missing, line break doesn't work} \tag{1} $$

 \frac{\text{numerator}}{\text{denominator}}\\\text{denominator present, linebreak works}

$$ \frac{\text{numerator}}{\text{denominator}}\\\Rightarrow\text{denominator present, line break works}\tag{2} $$

Answer 1

The \cfrac needs a denominator so it treats the first two backslash \\ as the denominator, a backslash is always followed by a command (even if it is just a space), so what you did was define the denominator as a linebreak.

$\frac{\text{numerator}}\\\text{denominator is a linebreak, text follows the fraction}

is $$\cfrac {\text{numerator}}\\\text{denominator is a linebreak, text follows the fraction}$$ but since the backslash isn't define, one has to use \backslash, then nothing appears in the denominator.

• but it changes if an additional backslash is added, like this

  \frac{\text{numerator}}\ \\\text{denominator is a space, linebreak works}

  and you get this

  $$\frac{\text{numerator}}\ \\\text{denominator is a space, linebreak works} $$ which gives you what you want.

  Notice the space after the first backslash, it means that the denominator is just a space.

• Assuming there is no space

  \frac{\text{numerator}}\\\\text{denominator is a linebreak, linebreak works but text doesn't}

  or there is a space after the first two backslash

  \frac{\text{numerator}}\\ \\text{denominator is a linebreak, linebreak works but text doesn't}

  it treats the first two backslashes \\ (a linebreak) as the denominator, and the last two \\ as another linebreak, thus rendering the rest as non-formatted text and you get this

$$\frac{\text{numerator}}\\\\text{denominator is a linebreak, linebreak works but text doesn't} $$

• Now let's put the space after the first three backslash

  \frac{\text{numerator}}\\\ \text{denominator is a linebreak,a space follows the fraction, and text works}

  $$\frac{\text{numerator}}\\\ \text{denominator is a linebreak,a space follows the fraction, and text works}$$

• Let's put spaces between all backlashes

  \frac{\text{numerator}}\ \ \ \text{denominator is a space, two spaces follow the fraction, and text works}

$$\frac{\text{numerator}}\ \ \ \text{denominator is a space, two spaces follow the fraction, and text works} $$

The trick is simple, every backslash is followed by a command, even if it is just a space, for a linebreak, the command is another backslash. Backslashes are treated in the order in which they are written (from the first to the last)

I'm not sure of the termilogies I used or even my argument, so if anything is wrong, add your comment below.