Mathematics Without a Mouse: How Textsmiths Write Equations

One of the questions I am often asked is this:

“Can you really write mathematics on a computer using only text?”

For many people, mathematics on a computer means clicking through an equation editor, hunting for symbols in toolbars, and assembling fractions one box at a time. Modern office suites such as Microsoft Word have excellent equation editors, and for occasional work they are perfectly adequate.

But for a textsmith, mathematics is simply another language that can be written as plain text.

Just as Markdown describes headings and lists without a word processor, mathematical markup languages describe equations without requiring a graphical editor. The result is surprisingly elegant. Equations become searchable, editable with any text editor, and can be stored in Git alongside the rest of your work.

Once again, plain text proves that simplicity scales.

The Pioneer: LaTeX

For decades, LaTeX has been the gold standard for mathematical typesetting.

Universities, scientific journals, engineers, physicists, and mathematicians have relied on it because it produces beautiful output while remaining entirely text-based.

A fraction such as one-fifth is written as:

\frac{1}{5}

Pi becomes:

\pi

The quadratic formula is written as:

x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}

To someone seeing it for the first time, LaTeX may look intimidating. Yet it has endured for over forty years because it expresses mathematical structure rather than appearance. Instead of clicking a “fraction” button, you simply tell LaTeX that something is a fraction.

Once you learn the vocabulary, writing equations becomes almost as natural as writing prose.

The Modern Alternative: Typst

If LaTeX represents tradition, Typst represents the next generation.

Typst keeps many of LaTeX’s strengths while introducing a cleaner and more consistent syntax. It feels more like a modern programming language than a collection of historical commands.

The same fraction becomes:

$frac(1,5)$

Pi is simply:

$pi$

Those already familiar with Markdown often find Typst easier to approach because the language was designed with readability in mind from the beginning.

For many newcomers, Typst offers an inviting path into mathematical typesetting without sacrificing professional-quality output.

ASCIIMath: Mathematics That Looks Like Text

Not every equation needs publication-quality typography.

Sometimes you simply want to type mathematics into a note, a web page, or documentation.

This is where ASCIIMath shines.

Instead of long commands, it uses notation that resembles ordinary writing:

1/5

instead of

\frac{1}{5}

Greek letters are equally straightforward:

pi
alpha
beta
theta

Square roots become

sqrt(x)

Powers become

x^2

Fractions are often written naturally as

(a+b)/(c+d)

Many documentation systems and educational websites can render ASCIIMath automatically, making it an excellent choice for quick notes and teaching materials.

Its greatest advantage is that someone can often guess the notation before learning it.

Plain Text Wins Again

What all these systems have in common is that they describe mathematics using plain text.

That means equations can be:

• searched with tools like grep or ripgrep
• version-controlled with Git
• reviewed with ordinary text diff tools
• generated automatically by scripts
• copied between projects without proprietary formats
• edited on virtually any operating system

A mathematical paper written twenty years ago in LaTeX can still be compiled today. Few binary document formats can make the same claim.

Do You Need Mathematical Markup?

Fortunately, not always.

Many textsmiths never write advanced equations.

If your focus is writing, documentation, software development, system administration, or even plain text accounting, you may rarely need anything beyond ordinary arithmetic.

Ledger and journal entries in tools such as hledger or Ledger are intentionally simple:

2026-07-17 Grocery Store
    Expenses:Food      45.20
    Assets:Bank       -45.20

No Greek letters.

No integrals.

No calculus.

The mathematics happens inside the accounting engine while your journal remains easy to read and edit.

So while mathematical markup is a powerful skill, it should not discourage anyone from adopting a plain-text workflow. Learn it when your work requires it—not because you think you must master every symbol before becoming a textsmith.

Mathematics Is Just Another Language

One of the great discoveries of the plain-text world is that mathematics is not fundamentally different from prose.

Instead of dragging symbols onto a page, we describe relationships.

Instead of storing equations inside opaque binary files, we express them in a language that both humans and computers can understand.

That philosophy is remarkably consistent with everything else we have explored on this site.

Whether writing documentation with Markdown, diagrams with Mermaid, finances with hledger, or equations with LaTeX and Typst, the principle remains the same:

Describe the structure in plain text, and let software produce the presentation.

Quick Reference

• Alternative Ways

• Reflection
• Mathematics
• Asciimath
• LaTeX
• Technical Writing