Kindle and Math symbols, guidelines?

webnerd · 11-29-2015, 05:44 AM

Hi what is the best option for math writers with respect to kindle?
I know MS Word Equation editor will work well with kindle, but what about latex or other math software? Are there any guidelines that tell you how kindle kindle is built to accept mathematical symbols and what it does not accept?

SBT · 12-11-2015, 08:38 AM

For math on the kindle, you have two possibilities: using HTML or inline images.
If you use HTML, then for old KF6 devices you are limited to very basic expressions: Plus,minus etc, and sub/superscripts. For KF8, you can express fairly complex math with HTML/CSS, but severe problems will appear when you need stacked expressions like combined sub/superscripts, fractions etc.
UTF-8 support for math symbols is pretty decent on KF8. not so much for KF6. I have not been able to find any description of precisely what sections of UTF-8 is covered, but the further up in the UTF-8 table you go, the support becomes patchier.
In the case of inline images, you have the possibility of using SVG for KF8, which will render with the same quality as fonts, unlike raster formats like PNG/JPG, which often will have a slight fuzziness. On KF8, you can also adjust the vertical alignment of the inline image so that expressions with sub/superscript and similar align correctly with the rest of the text. The stylesheet can specify the size of the inline image in em units, so that they scale correctly along with the adjacent text if the font size is changed.
For KF6, you can only use raster formats. Also, to ensure the correct DPI, width and height attributes must be set in each img element. It is not possible to get the math to scale with font size.
As I have not found a way to eliminate the need for explicit height and width attributes for KF6, math img elements have to be added twice, even when they refer to the same image file, otherwise the height/width attributes will take precedence on KF8 and prevent scaling with font size. Determination of which version is displayed is done with media queries.

As of now, I know of no tools that do a half-decent job of automatic latex to epub/KF8-compliant HTML, though work is in fairly rapid progress to utilize MathJax for the purpose. Up til now, I've used plain latex on one expression at a time, and converted it to svg/ png with the CLI utilities dvisvgm/dvipng.

11-29-2015, 05:44 AM	#1
webnerd Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	Kindle and Math symbols, guidelines? Hi what is the best option for math writers with respect to kindle? I know MS Word Equation editor will work well with kindle, but what about latex or other math software? Are there any guidelines that tell you how kindle kindle is built to accept mathematical symbols and what it does not accept?

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12-11-2015, 08:38 AM	#2
SBT Fanatic Posts: 580 Karma: 810184 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Norway Device: prs-t1, tablet, Nook Simple, assorted kindles, iPad	For math on the kindle, you have two possibilities: using HTML or inline images. If you use HTML, then for old KF6 devices you are limited to very basic expressions: Plus,minus etc, and sub/superscripts. For KF8, you can express fairly complex math with HTML/CSS, but severe problems will appear when you need stacked expressions like combined sub/superscripts, fractions etc. UTF-8 support for math symbols is pretty decent on KF8. not so much for KF6. I have not been able to find any description of precisely what sections of UTF-8 is covered, but the further up in the UTF-8 table you go, the support becomes patchier. In the case of inline images, you have the possibility of using SVG for KF8, which will render with the same quality as fonts, unlike raster formats like PNG/JPG, which often will have a slight fuzziness. On KF8, you can also adjust the vertical alignment of the inline image so that expressions with sub/superscript and similar align correctly with the rest of the text. The stylesheet can specify the size of the inline image in em units, so that they scale correctly along with the adjacent text if the font size is changed. For KF6, you can only use raster formats. Also, to ensure the correct DPI, width and height attributes must be set in each img element. It is not possible to get the math to scale with font size. As I have not found a way to eliminate the need for explicit height and width attributes for KF6, math img elements have to be added twice, even when they refer to the same image file, otherwise the height/width attributes will take precedence on KF8 and prevent scaling with font size. Determination of which version is displayed is done with media queries. As of now, I know of no tools that do a half-decent job of automatic latex to epub/KF8-compliant HTML, though work is in fairly rapid progress to utilize MathJax for the purpose. Up til now, I've used plain latex on one expression at a time, and converted it to svg/ png with the CLI utilities dvisvgm/dvipng.