In Google Docs' document editor, there's rudimentary support for adding mathematical equations.
I didn't find anything like that in Google Slides' editor.
Anyone know a workaround?
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Sign up to join this communityI found this online LaTeX editor. It allows you to type LaTeX and download an image of the resulting equation. It even shows in real time what the equation looks like.
I'm going to use the online LaTeX equation editor to place an equation in Google Presentations, just like you wanted to.
Here's an example:
It's a kind of REST interface that generates a downloadable .png image like this, similar to Google Chart API.
There is now a Chrome add-on for mathematical equations, but it's not inline.
It's named Math Equations
Checkout the Chrome extension EquatIO.
With it it is possible to add equations with LaTeX to google slides.
There are add-ons for Google Slides that can render LaTeX equations, and insert them as images into the presentation. Because the result is an image, other users do not need to install the add-on in order to view the equations, unless they want to insert new equations. Some add-ons also support editing existing equations inserted by the given add-on.
Below is a table summarizing the features offered by each add-on.
App | Rendered output | Editable | Speed | Live preview | UX | Resolution | Default res. | Background | LaTeX modes | Colors | OCR | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Auto-LaTeX Equations | ![]() |
Partial | Very slow | No | Poor | Fixed | Good | Transparent | Display / inline | Single | No | |
Better Math Equations | ![]() |
No | Medium-fast | Yes | Medium | Adjustable | Good | Transparent | Inline only | Single | No | |
Equation Editor ++ | ![]() |
Yes | Medium | Partial | Medium | Adjustable | Poor | Transparent | Display / inline | No | No | |
Hypatia Create | ![]() |
Yes | Fast | Yes | Good | Adjustable | High | Transparent | Display / inline | Paid-only | No | Mostly free |
MathType (paid) | ![]() |
Yes | Medium-slow | Yes | Medium | Fixed | High | Transparent | N/A — not LaTeX based | No | Yes | Paid, 30 day free trial |
Above table, transposed:
App | Auto-LaTeX Equations | Better Math Equations | Equation Editor ++ | Hypatia Create | MathType (paid) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rendered output | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Editable | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Speed | Very slow | Medium-fast | Medium | Fast | Medium-slow |
Live preview | No | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
UX | Poor | Medium | Medium | Good | Medium |
Resolution | Fixed | Adjustable | Adjustable | Adjustable | Fixed |
Default resolution | Good | Good | Poor | High | High |
Background | Transparent | Transparent | Transparent | Transparent | Transparent |
LaTeX modes | Display / inline | Inline only | Display / inline | Display / inline | N/A — not LaTeX based |
Colors | Single | Single | No | Paid-only | No |
OCR | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Notes | Mostly free | Paid, 30 day free trial |
Rating system:
Other interesting apps that I haven't yet tried:
Test equations:
\frac{1}{{\sqrt{\pi}}}\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}e^{-x^{2}}\,dx\,=\,1
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n^{2}}=\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}
I am working with Linux, so I do not know if there is similar software. In Linux, however, the simplest solution I know of is writing your LaTeX code into KLaTeXFormula, clicking on copy and pasting it with CTRL+V right into the document.
KLaTeXFormula is great software: It allows you to set your own preamble and also saves previous entries, which you can easily look up in a library.
Go to insert, click on special characters and everything that you need should be right there. This is only for google slides, I don't know how to do it for google docs. Another option is typing the equation in google docs and then pasting it in google slides.
There is no direct and clean way to add equations to Google Slides but you can make an equation in Microsoft Excel, copy it and paste it in Slides.
Note that you can't do this from Google Docs, that is, if you copy-paste an equation created in Docs, it will appear as plain text in Slides losing all equation formatting.
A tip: before you copy the equation from Excel, you may consider enlarging its size by selecting it > Home > Change Font Size.
Hypatia Create
is so far the best.