2 posts tagged with "math"

Ask an engineer to document an algorithm in Confluence and watch what happens to the math: O(n log n) typed as plain text, x² pasted from a character map, and — for anything real — a screenshot from an online equation editor, blurry and already out of date. Confluence has no native LaTeX support, so every formula becomes either a compromise or an image.

It does not have to. With a Markdown macro on the page, Confluence renders real LaTeX — inline $...$, display $$...$$, fenced blocks with full align environments — and the equation stays text: searchable, theme-consistent, editable in seconds. This guide gives you the syntax and copy-paste examples for all three routes.

Mathematical concepts are inherently dynamic. A limit converges, a derivative emerges from shrinking secant lines, a matrix transformation rotates a vector through space. Static screenshots and LaTeX formulas capture the result but miss the process -- and for many students and colleagues, the process is where understanding lives. Animations bridge that gap. They show how equations transform, how geometric constructions unfold step by step, and how abstract algebra connects to visual intuition.

Until recently, embedding math animations in documentation required a multi-tool workflow: write Python scripts with Manim, render MP4 files locally, upload them as attachments or embed them via external hosting, and hope nobody asked you to update them. Manim for Confluence eliminates that entire pipeline. You write animation code directly inside a Confluence macro, and the animation plays inline on the published page -- no file exports, no external hosting, no broken links when the video expires.