Writing Fractions, Superscripts, and Roots in Confluence with LaTeX

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 Hi everyone! 👋

Last time, we shared how LaTeX helps with writing math equations in Confluence. This week marks the start of our practical LaTeX syntax series. In our first post, we’d like to focus on the fundamentals: superscripts, subscripts, fractions, and roots.

We’re the team behind LaTeX Math for Confluence (Cloud), an app that helps you seamlessly add math formulas and equations to your Confluence pages.

Superscripts and Subscripts

To write superscripts and subscripts, you can use:

• ^ for superscripts (e.g., exponents)

• _ for subscripts (e.g., variable indices)

Examples:
 

x^2       → x squared
x_i       → x with subscript i
x^{n+1}   → superscript with multiple characters
x^{n+1}_i → combination of superscript and subscript

💡 Tip: Always use curly braces {} to group multiple characters in superscripts or subscripts. Otherwise, LaTeX will only apply the modifier to the first character.

Fractions in LaTeX

To represent division or rational expressions, use: \frac{numerator}{denominator}.

Example: 

\frac{a+b}{c+d}

Square Roots and n-th Roots

The \sqrt command is your go-to for radicals:

\sqrt{x}             → basic square root
\sqrt[n]{x}          → n-th root
\sqrt[n]{x^2 + y^2}  → n-th root of a sum of squares

The optional argument [n] lets you specify the degree of the root.

Need to combine them?

Example 1: Fraction with square root in denominator

\frac{a}{\sqrt{b^2 + c^2}} 

Example 2: Cube root with subscripts and powers

\sqrt[3]{x_i^2 + y_i^2}

Example 3: Gaussian (normal) distribution function

f(x) = \frac{1}{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi}} \, e^{-\frac{(x - \mu)^2}{2\sigma^2}}

Getting comfortable with superscripts, subscripts, fractions, and roots will make your formulas look clean and professional in Confluence.

📌 Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll explore summations, integrals, and math functions.