MathMate

A small VS Code extension for quick calculations in LaTeX and Markdown math.

Features

• While typing inside math mode, pi becomes π; common LaTeX symbol commands such as \alpha, \theta, \times, and \leq are replaced by their Unicode symbols.
• Type / after a math operand to turn it into a LaTeX fraction and move the caret into the denominator, e.g. typing 6.1/ creates \frac{6.1}{}. The fraction can still be calculated when you press Enter.
• At the end of a math line, an inline result appears as a ghost-text suggestion. Press Tab to accept it.
• Use ans in the next expression to reuse the last result, such as ans*2. MathMate remembers results from Enter, the Calculate command, and accepted Tab suggestions, and can also read the result after \Rightarrow in an earlier displayed equation in the same document.
• Define variables on earlier math lines and reuse them later; for example, c = 6,2, a = 5.3, then b = sqrt(c^2-a^2) and alpha = arcsin(a/c). A comma between digits is treated as a decimal separator.
• Press Enter at the end of a math expression to turn it into a display-math block and append its result (or a linear equation's solution) when it can be calculated. In Markdown this uses $$...$$, which common Markdown math renderers understand.
• Solve one-variable linear equations, for example 2x + 3 = 7 → x = 2.
• Calculate arithmetic with parentheses, implicit multiplication, powers, trig/inverse trig, square roots, logarithms, exponentials, absolute value, and the constants pi, e, and tau.
• Calculate factorials with postfix !, for example 5! → 120 (integer inputs from 0 to 170 are supported).
• Common additional math symbols are supported, including \\sum, \\prod, \\int, \\partial, \\nabla, set symbols, comparison symbols, arrows, and uppercase Greek letters. For example, \\sum_{i=1}^{n} i is formatted as displayable LaTeX; symbolic summations and integrals are formatted only and are not numerically evaluated yet.
• Group a full exponent with parentheses, for example e^(i*pi); the calculator evaluates complex powers, and Enter formats the exponent as e^{i\cdot\pi}.
• Use asin(6.1/7.5), arcsin(6.1/7.5), or sin^-1(6.1/7.5) for inverse sine. To solve for an angle, enter \alpha=sin^-1(6.1/7.5). Trig functions use degrees by default; change mathmate.angleUnit to radians if needed.
• Run MathMate: Calculate or Solve Current Math from the Command Palette, or use Ctrl+Alt+M (macOS: Cmd+Option+M).

Math lines can be plain expressions or wrapped in $...$, $$...$$, \(...\), or \[...\]. In Markdown and LaTeX, automatic symbol replacement is limited to detected math regions. Functions use standard calculator notation such as sin(30) or sqrt(9) (LaTeX \sqrt{9} is also accepted). Linear equations can be solved, but graphing, calculus, matrices, and nonlinear equation solving are not included yet.

Run the extension locally

1. Install Node.js and npm if they are not already installed.
2. In this folder, run npm install and then npm run compile.
3. Open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
4. In the new window, open a .tex or Markdown file and type a math expression such as 2*pi+1, sqrt(9), or 2x+3=7. Press Enter to format and calculate it, or use Tab to accept the inline result first.

Settings are available under MathMate:

• mathmate.autoReplaceSymbols
• mathmate.inlineResults
• mathmate.angleUnit (degrees by default, or radians)

Publishing releases

Push a version tag such as v0.0.1 to trigger the GitHub Actions release workflow. It builds and attaches the .vsix package to a GitHub Release. To also publish to the Visual Studio Marketplace, create a Marketplace Personal Access Token and add it to the GitHub repository as the Actions secret VSCE_PAT; the workflow uses the publisher ID TheChaosACC. Never commit the token to the repository.