---
title: Introduction to Markdown
date: Wed Mar 20 13:57:10 2019
---
This document presents a brief overview of the Markdown syntax and
builds on a [presentation from the Github
team](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/) and [blog
post from Archer
Reilly](http://csrgxtu.github.io/2015/03/20/Writing-Mathematic-Fomulars-in-Markdown/).
# Table of Contents TOC
- [Syntax](#syntax)
- [Headers](#headers)
- [Emphasis](#emphasis)
- [Lists](#lists)
- [Images](#images)
- [Links](#links)
- [Blockquotes](#blockquotes)
- [Inline code](#inline-code)
- [Writing Math](#writing-math)
- [Greek Letters](#greek-letters)
- [Usual functions and operators](#usual-functions-and-operators)
- [Exponents and indices](#exponents-and-indices)
- [Fractions, binomial coefficients, square roots,
…](#fractions-binomial-coefficients-square-roots-)
- [Summations and integrals](#summations-and-integrals)
- [Outfits ☺](#outfits-smiley)
- [About `markdown`](#about-markdown)
# Syntax
## Headers
``` example
# This is an tag
## This is an tag
###### This is an tag
```
## Emphasis
``` example
*This text will be italic*
_This will also be italic_
**This text will be bold**
__This will also be bold__
_You **can** combine them_
```
## Lists
### Unordered
``` example
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 2a
- Item 2b
```
### Ordered
``` example
1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3
1. Item 3a
2. Item 3b
```
## Images
``` example
Format: 
```
## Links
``` example
http://github.com - automatic!
[GitHub](http://github.com)
```
## Blockquotes
``` example
As Kanye West said:
> We're living the future so
> the present is our past.
```
## Inline code
```` example
To print some text with python, you should use the `print()` function.
```
print("Hello world!")
```
````
# Writing Math
Math formulas are easy to write using Markdown, either using the
**inline** mode or the **displayed formulas** mode. With the inline
mode, formulas are inlined in the current paragraph whereas with the
displayed mode, they appear as centered and emphasized.
The formatting generally slightly differs in both cases since, to
display nicely on a single line, it is generally required to pack them a
bit more than when they are emphasized.
To write formulas using the **inline** mode, they should be surrounded
by a single `$` (as a consequence, whenever you need to use the original
dollar symbol, you should prefix it with a backslash: `\$`). To write
formulas using the **displayed** mode, they should be surrounded by a
`$$`. Here are a few examples:
``` example
This expression $\sum_{i=1}^n X_i$ is inlined.
```
This expression \(\sum_{i=1}^n X_i\) is inlined.
``` example
This expression is emphasized:
$$\sum_{i=1}^n X_i$$
```
This expression is emphasized:
\[\sum_{i=1}^n X_i\]
In the rest of this section we present a brief selection of common
symbols and commands. Actually, almost any classical LaTeX command can
used as such in Markdown, provided it is surrounded by a `$`. For more
complete examples, please have a look at these ces [examples by James H.
Steiger](http://www.statpower.net/Content/310/R%2520Stuff/SampleMarkdown.html).
## Greek Letters
| Symbol | Command |
| ---------- | ---------- |
| \(\alpha\) | `$\alpha$` |
| \(\beta\) | `$\beta$` |
| \(\gamma\) | `$\gamma$` |
| \(\Gamma\) | `$\Gamma$` |
| \(\pi\) | `$\pi$` |
## Usual functions and operators
| Symbol | Command |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| \(\cos\) | `$\cos$` |
| \(\sin\) | `$\sin$` |
| \(\lim\) | `$\lim$` |
| \(\exp\) | `$\exp$` |
| \(\to\) | `$\to$` |
| \(\in\) | `$\in$` |
| \(\forall\) | `$\forall$` |
| \(\exists\) | `$\exists$` |
| \(\equiv\) | `$\equiv$` |
| \(\sim\) | `$\sim$` |
| \(\approx\) | `$\approx$` |
| \(\times\) | `$\times$` |
| \(\le\) | `$\le$` |
| \(\ge\) | `$\ge$` |
## Exponents and indices
| Symbol | Command |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| \(k_{n+1}\) | `$k_{n+1}$` |
| \(n^2\) | `$n^2$` |
| \(k_n^2\) | `$k_n^2$` |
## Fractions, binomial coefficients, square roots, …
| Symbol | Command |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| \(\frac{4z^3}{16}\) | `$\frac{4z^3}{16}$` |
| \(\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}\) | `$\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}$` |
| \(\binom{n}{k}\) | `$\binom{n}{k}$` |
| \(\frac{\frac{x}{1}}{x - y}\) | `$\frac{\frac{x}{1}}{x - y}$` |
| \(^3/_7\) | `$^3/_7$` |
| \(\sqrt{k}\) | `$\sqrt{k}$` |
| \(\sqrt[n]{k}\) | `$\sqrt[n]{k}$` |
## Summations and integrals
| Symbol | Command |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| \(\sum_{i=1}^{10} t_i\) | `$\sum_{i=1}^{10} t_i$` |
| \(\int_0^\infty \mathrm{e}^{-x}\,\mathrm{d}x\) | `$\int_0^\infty \mathrm{e}^{-x}\,\mathrm{d}x$` |
## Outfits ☺
| Symbol | Command |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------- |
| \(\hat{a}\) | `$\hat{a}$` |
| \(\bar{a}\) | `$\bar{a}$` |
| \(\dot{a}\) | `$\dot{a}$` |
| \(\ddot{a}\) | `$\ddot{a}$` |
| \(\overrightarrow{AB}\) | `$\overrightarrow{AB}$` |
# About `markdown`
First of all, to know more about `markdown` and its extensions, you may
want to read:
- The « [Élaboration et conversion de documents avec Markdown et
Pandoc](https://enacit1.epfl.ch/markdown-pandoc/) » tutorial by
Jean-Daniel Bonjour (EPFL). A must-read in French…
- The wikipedia article on
[Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown#Example) provides
a good overview of the `markdown` syntax.
- Github proposes a short and efficient introduction: [Mastering
Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/).
As we explain in the video, `github` and `gitlab` allow you to easily
edit `mardown` documents and to render them in `html`. This is quite
convenient but may be a bit cumbersome for a daily use. You may prefer
to edit these documents with a real editor and later to export them in
whichever format you may like (`html`, `pdf`, `docx`, `epub`, etc).
There are a few editors specifically designed for `markdown` (see for
example the
[Editors](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/wiki/Pandoc-Extras#editors) page
of the `pandoc` website) but we rather advise you to use a
general-purpose editor that is capable of handling the `markdown`
syntax. A few ones were mentioned in the beginning of the video and
additional information are available in the ["Quelques éditeurs adaptés
à l'édition
Markdown"](https://enacit1.epfl.ch/markdown-pandoc/#editeurs_markdown)
section of Jean-Daniel Bonjour's tutorial.
To convert `markdown` in an "arbitrary" other format, the best solution
today is [Pandoc](http://pandoc.org/), a software developed by John
MacFarlane, a philosopher from de Berkeley, and whose [main page is on
github](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc). J.-D. Bonjour's tutorial
provides many explanations on how to install and use `pandoc` in the
[Utilisation du convertisseur
Pandoc](https://enacit1.epfl.ch/markdown-pandoc/#commande_pandoc)
section. `pandoc` is written in Haskell and may be a bit cumbersome to
install. Therefore, we provide here a few alternative solutions:
- Some websites like or
allow you to convert online `markdown`
files into `pdf` files without having to install anything on your
computer.
- The [CommonMark](http://commonmark.org/) project proposes a rigorous
specification of the `markdown` syntax and converters `markdown` →
`html` / `LaTeX` written in `C` and `JavaScript`
().
- You will find on the website of [John
Gruber](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/), the creator
of `markdown`, a `markdown` → `html` converter written in `perl`.
- [MultiMarkdown](http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/) is another
`markdown` extension that provides its own `markdown` → `html`
converter written in `C`.
- [grip](https://github.com/joeyespo/grip) is a `python`-based server
that allows you to convert on the fly `markdown` documents and to
preview them with your favorite browser (this is quite useful to
avoid useless commits just for the sake of previewing when using
`github` ou `gitlab`).
The `pdf` conversion always relies on
[LaTeX](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX), which requires a
full-fledged and running LaTeX installation on your computer.
In the demo, we show how to generate a `docx` from a `markdown` document
with `Pandoc` and we explain that it is then possible to use a word
processor like `LibreOffice` to edit the resulting file. Obviously the
modifications will not be back-propagated to the original `markdown`
document. You may however want to use `Pandoc` again to convert your new
`docx` document to a new `markdown` document.
Another common strategy consists in doing most of the editing of an
article/report in `Markdown` and to export it into a `docx` (or `LaTeX`)
only in the end so as to prepare it for a camera-ready version with a
standard word processing environment (or a `LaTeX` editor).