I’ve written a bit of javascript that uses jQuery and MathJax to make a sort-of-WYSIWYG maths editor.

Because MathJax can typeset LaTeX pretty much instantly, it’s a lot quicker to work with than the usual LaTeX write–compile–look loop.

I’m thinking about using this for videos of problem solutions. Because it’s LaTeX it’s a lot neater than my handwriting, and I don’t have to faff around with cameras.

The problem in this video is from an old P6 Further Maths A Level paper. I picked a question that wouldn’t require too much typing, but had some meat to it. If I did this properly I’d talk over it, but at the moment I’m a bit tired and the family upstairs are being quite noisy.

You can have a go on the editor here but beware that I’ve only tested it on Google Chrome. What you type gets saved to your browser’s local storage, so it should persist between browser sessions.

What do you think about it? Is it helpful? Would you consider using something like it?