[nullifidian]

If there had been something like this standardized in Markdown from the start, it might have had a chance for wide adoption. Right now, learning to see and use LaTeX math as easily as more ASCII-like notation is just more convenient since it is widely adopted (in GitHub, in VS Code, etc.). It's harder, but it also provides the added benefit of maintaining your LaTeX skills.

I think Google's Chrome team's choices of priorities bear a significant portion of the blame for this. They refused to implement MathML for the longest time, and even when it was implemented, it was partly done and financed by a third party. Without MathML, LaTeX-to-HTML JavaScript hacks became the norm, solidifying LaTeX as the standard even for non-typesetting use cases. Had MathML been implemented by Chrome early on, a more direct and easier translation from something ASCII-like to MathML would likely have been adopted.

[runarberg]

Its funny I started writing this tool over 10 years ago (show HN from March 2015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9235139) where I intended it to be used in Markdown. AsciiMath proper back then (just like AsciiMath today) didn’t compile to MathML so I was forced to write my own