[R-pkg-devel] Proposal: allow amsmath commands in function documentation

[Alex Hayes]

Hey all,

I would like to propose a change to function documentation in packages.
Currently, we can only use basic TeX in function documentation. It would be
nice to be able to use commands from the amsmath and amsfonts LaTeX
packages as well.

Recently I've been running into circumstances where the restriction to
basic TeX results in sub-par documentation. Allowing amsmath and amsfonts
commands will have two advantages:

1. Improved clarity of function documentation in the pdf manual
2. Consistent notation in function documentation and vignettes

For example, at the moment, I have a package that refers to the real
numbers as \mathbb R in the vignette, but just as R in the function
documentation. It would be nice to use \mathbb R in both settings.

Lastly, most web documentation (i.e. MathJax, pkgdown) supports amsmath and
amsfonts commands, so improvements made to function documentation will
appear both in the pdf manual, and in package websites maintained by
individual package authors.

Regards,
Alex

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