LaTeX \mbox not correctly displayed in Publish

[danieldk]

Steps to reproduce

Use mbox in an equation, e.g.:

$\mbox{softmax}(\frac{QK^T}{\sqrt{d_k}})V$

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide?

Yes

Expected result

Rendering like in LaTeX or Obsidian itself:

Actual result

Rendered in Publish as:

Notice that the letters in softmax are rendered as math symbols (squiggly), whereas they should be rendered as normal text.

(I also tried the amsmath \text command, but it has the same issue.)

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.6.5
Installer version: v1.5.12
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 23.5.0: Wed May 1 20:12:58 PDT 2024; root:xnu-10063.121.3~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 23.5.0
Login status: logged in
Catalyst license: insider
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

[WhiteNoise]

which browser are you using?

does it happen in chrome?

does it happen here?

[danieldk]

@WhiteNoise

which browser are you using?

Safari 17.5.0 on macOS 14.5.

@WhiteNoise

does it happen in chrome?

It renders correctly in Chrome.

@WhiteNoise

does it happen here ?

No, on the MathJax demo page it seems to render correctly in Safari:

[danieldk]

I was wondering if there are any updates. I used Quartz since my last post to work around the issue, but I would like to switch back to Obsidian Publish because it’s more convenient. But mbox still seems to render badly on Safari (while fine on Chrome-based browsers).

[WhiteNoise]

@danieldk

Notice that the letters in softmax are rendered as math symbols (squiggly), whereas they should be rendered as normal text.

There are not rendered as math symbols. They are not squiggly (cursive).
As a sidenote, from latex pov. you should use \operatorname{softmax}.

Anyway, this is an know bug of safari/mathjax:

iOS MathJax (LaTeX) text characters misaligned jello effect - Also in Publish with Safari

At least in iPad OS and presumably in MacOS as well, (some) characters aren‘t aligned with the baseline. This bug is a known MathJax Issue, however a solution has to be implemented internally to fix the Issue, because settings have to be altered upon loading MathJax. It happens because of RoundOf issues in WebKit. Steps to reproduce Write some consequensive letters (best observed in \text{}) Observe misaligned characters Expected result All letters should share a baseline Actual result Inst…

[danieldk]

@WhiteNoise

Anyway, this is an know bug of safari/mathjax:

Thanks for the pointer!