math-typography

Math Typography

Mathematical typography patterns for Manim animations.

MathTex vs Tex

MathTex - Mathematical Expressions

# Single equation (entire string is math mode)
eq = MathTex(r"E = mc^2")

# Multiple parts for animation control
eq = MathTex(r"E", r"=", r"m", r"c^2")
# eq[0] = "E", eq[1] = "=", eq[2] = "m", eq[3] = "c^2"

Tex - Mixed Text and Math

# Text with inline math
label = Tex(r"The equation $E = mc^2$ is famous")

# Multiple parts
label = Tex(r"The value is ", r"$x = 5$")
label[1].set_color(BLUE)  # Color the math part

Semantic Coloring

tex_to_color_map

# Automatic coloring of matched substrings. Manim splits the string at each
# key and compiles the pieces as separate LaTeX, so every key must sit at the
# TOP LEVEL -- never inside a braced group such as \frac{...}{...} (that
# orphans the braces and fails to compile). Color top-level tokens only:
formula = MathTex(
    r"P(A \mid B) = P(B \mid A)\, P(A) / P(B)",
    tex_to_color_map={
        r"A": BLUE,
        r"B": ORANGE,
        r"P": GREEN,
    },
)

⚠️ Coloring inside fractions: a tex_to_color_map key that lands inside \frac{...}{...} (or any {...}) breaks LaTeX compilation. To color variables in a fraction, use the multi-argument form and color submobjects directly (see Manual Coloring below), e.g. MathTex(r"P(A|B)", r"=", r"\frac{P(B|A)P(A)}{P(B)}").set_color_by_tex("frac", GREEN).

Manual Coloring

# Color specific parts
eq = MathTex(r"y", r"=", r"m", r"x", r"+", r"b")
eq[0].set_color(BLUE)    # y
eq[2].set_color(RED)     # m
eq[3].set_color(GREEN)   # x
eq[5].set_color(PURPLE)  # b

Color by Index

# Access characters within a part
eq = MathTex(r"f(x) = x^2")
eq[0][0].set_color(BLUE)     # 'f'
eq[0][2].set_color(GREEN)    # 'x' in f(x)

Split Strategies for Animation

Simple Split

# Each term separate
eq = MathTex(r"a", r"+", r"b", r"=", r"c")

# Animate part by part
self.play(Write(eq[0]))     # a
self.play(Write(eq[1:3]))   # + b
self.play(Write(eq[3:]))    # = c