Using LaTeX-style notations

We can now annotate figures. However, in a scientific and engineering context, the solution demonstrated previously suffers from one annoying limitation. We cannot use mathematical notations! Or, can we? In this recipe, we are going to see how to use LaTeX to display mathematical scripts in a figure.

Getting ready

You need a working LaTeX setup installed on your computer so that matplotlib can interpret a LaTeX-style notation to render mathematical text. Fall short of this, and you will not be able to try this recipe. You can find useful explanations on installing LaTeX on the LaTeX Wikibook (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Installation).

Tip

LaTeX

LaTeX is a document preparation system widely used in academia. Unlike document editors such as Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer, a LaTeX user cannot see how the final document will look while editing it. Documents are described as a mix of text and commands stored in a plain text file. Then, LaTeX will interpret...