AsciiMath
Ranked 6 of 7 markup languages by recommenders
People recommend AsciiMath for readable plain-ASCII math that avoids verbose LaTeX commands. Critics say its implementations are lacking and some syntax choices are error-prone.
7 people recommended AsciiMath in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
5 of the 7 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “AsciiMath”.
Summary written by Claude from 15 comments.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 5
The record
Recommended in 2 of 12 months
In 3 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 3 threadsNeeds 5 or more, not met.
- 5 of its 7 recommenders came from one threadNeeds half or less, not met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 14 of the 15 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Readable plain ASCII notation
“AsciiMath makes easy equations read easy.”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Mathematics is hard for mathematicians to understand too” “the ASCII side is highly readable”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath” Useful for lectures and notes
“It was the key for me being able to write maths in a classroom/lecture theatre”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath” “This is cool. I could see myself using this for notes.”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Odd, error-prone syntax choices
“seems like an error-prone way to write your math”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Mathematics is hard for mathematicians to understand too” “doubtless "better" for an obscure reason known only to its author”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath” “it is a rather odd choice”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath” Hard to read
“Why use the exponent sign to indicate the upper limit?”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath” “It's not exactly easy to read, is it?”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “AsciiMath”
Other markup languages people recommend
The four most recommended other markup languages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markdown | 116 | 25 | 65 | 64% | 11 | — | — |
| AsciiDoc | 24 | 11 | 10 | 71% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Djot | 15 | 4 | 4 | 79% | 6 | — | Approved |
| reStructuredText | 12 | 7 | 8 | 60% | 8 | — | — |
| AsciiMathThis page | 7 | 1 | 5 | 58% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It does better than I expected on tricky input like [0, 1/2). It seems like there are a lot of special cases, though.”
“seems like an error-prone way to write your math”
“AsciiMath makes easy equations read easy.”
“it is a rather odd choice”
“AsciiMath is an excellent language IMO but a rather lacking implementation”
“It's not exactly easy to read, is it?”
“Not really, it's long \escaped \English \words that are made of ascii symbols”
“Not having to write \left and \right everywhere doesn’t seem like an obscure reason”
“Its space handling looks especially problematic”
“Why use the exponent sign to indicate the upper limit?”
“the ASCII side is highly readable”
“doubtless "better" for an obscure reason known only to its author”
“It was the key for me being able to write maths in a classroom/lecture theatre”
“This is cool. I could see myself using this for notes.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.