\frac{a}{b} and a/b produce exactly the same fraction on a Confluence page. The first is LaTeX, the second is AsciiMath. Some math apps for Confluence Cloud accept both, ours among them (LaTeX Math for Confluence by Stiltsoft). So the choice comes down to which syntax feels more natural to you, and which one the rest of your team already knows.
This post covers what AsciiMath is, how it compares to LaTeX on the same formulas, and when each syntax is the better choice.
TL;DR
- LaTeX is the standard notation in academic and technical publishing. Precise and verbose, with established notation for almost any formula you'd copy from elsewhere.
- AsciiMath is a shorter notation meant to stay readable before it's rendered. A 2×2 matrix is
[[a,b],[c,d]]. - Choose LaTeX when formulas come from papers or another tool, when the notation is unusual, or when the team already knows it.
- Choose AsciiMath when the formulas are straightforward and written by people who don't use LaTeX daily.
- Both can sit side by side on the same page, or in the same table, as long as your app supports both syntaxes — LaTeX Math for Confluence by Stiltsoft, the app we build, is one example.
What is AsciiMath in Confluence?
AsciiMath in Confluence is an alternative math notation you can use instead of LaTeX, entered through its own macro and rendered the same way on the page. You type x^2 + y^2 = z^2 in macro, and that's it: the source looks almost the same as the formula, without the commands and braces that LaTeX would need.
The AsciiMath syntax itself is simpler: fewer commands, fewer braces, so someone opening the macro to check a formula can read the source directly, without mentally stripping out syntax.
How does AsciiMath compare to LaTeX?
The same formulas, written both ways:
Formula | LaTeX | AsciiMath |
|---|
Fraction | \frac{a}{b}
| a/b
|
Square root | \sqrt{x}
| sqrt(x)
|
Power | x^{2}
| x^2
|
Greek letter | \alpha
| alpha
|
Integral | \int_0^1 x^2 dx
| int_0^1 x^2 dx
|
Summation | \sum_{i=1}^{n} i
| sum_(i=1)^n i
|
2×2 matrix | \begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix}
| ([a,b],[c,d])
|
The rendered result is identical in every row. The difference shows up in the last one, where LaTeX needs an environment, an alignment character, and a line break, while AsciiMath just needs brackets.
Not every math app on the Marketplace supports both notations, so it's worth checking the listing before assuming the choice is available to you. One that does is LaTeX Math for Confluence by Stiltsoft, developed by our team. It ships four macros — LaTeX Block Formulas, LaTeX Inline Formulas, AsciiMath Block Formulas, and AsciiMath Inline Formulas.
When should you use LaTeX in Confluence?
Use LaTeX when the formula already exists somewhere else, or when the notation goes beyond the everyday.
- The team knows LaTeX. For people who write formulas every day, LaTeX is already muscle memory, and a second notation is a cost rather than a saving.
- The notation is unusual. Multi-line derivations, piecewise functions, custom spacing, and matrix environments all have established LaTeX forms.
- The formula is a copy. Papers, theses, Jupyter notebooks, and many other wikis are already LaTeX. Pasting it in is faster than translating it.
When should you use AsciiMath in Confluence?
Use AsciiMath when the formula is straightforward, and the person writing it doesn't work in LaTeX regularly.
- The formulas are simple. Ratios, powers, roots, and basic sums are shorter to write and easier to read.
- The page has many authors. Someone who writes one formula a quarter will get further with
a/b than with \frac{a}{b}. - The source gets read as often as the output. In a specification where people open the macro to check what was written, a readable source saves real time.
Can you use both on the same Confluence page?
Yes, and there's no reason to standardize on one. Because the notation is set per macro, a page can carry LaTeX equations written by one person and AsciiMath written by another, including inside the same table. Both render the same way, both export the same way, and readers can't tell which was which.
That also means the decision isn't permanent. If a formula outgrows AsciiMath, it can be rewritten in LaTeX in the macro next to it.
LaTeX or AsciiMath, which one is right for your team?
Mostly, the choice between LaTeX and AsciiMath depends on who writes the formulas rather than what the formulas are. Teams where a few people own the technical documentation usually settle on LaTeX and stay there. Teams where twenty people each contribute a page tend to find that AsciiMath lowers the barrier enough to be worth it.
If you're deciding on the syntax, it's also worth knowing how the two macro modes work, which we covered separately in Inline or block: how LaTeX macros work in Confluence.
Which notation does your team use, and did you pick it deliberately or inherit it?
