Adding equations to Google Slides

Question

In Google Docs' document editor, there's rudimentary support for adding mathematical equations.

I didn't find anything like that in Google Slides' editor.

Anyone know a workaround?

Answer 1

I found this online LaTeX editor. It allows you to type LaTeX and download an image of the resulting equation. It even shows in real time what the equation looks like.

I'm going to use the online LaTeX equation editor to place an equation in Google Presentations, just like you wanted to.

Here's an example:

It's a kind of REST interface that generates a downloadable .png image like this, similar to Google Chart API.

Answer 2

There is now a Chrome add-on for mathematical equations, but it's not inline.

It's named Math Equations

Answer 3

Google Slides compatible add-ons

There are add-ons for Google Slides that can render LaTeX equations, and insert them as images into the presentation. Because the result is an image, other users do not need to install the add-on in order to view the equations, unless they want to insert new equations. Some add-ons also support editing existing equations inserted by the given add-on.

Below is a table summarizing the features offered by each add-on.

App	Rendered output	Editable	Speed	Live preview	UX	Resolution	Default res.	Background	LaTeX modes	Colors	OCR	Notes
Auto-LaTeX Equations		Partial	Very slow	No	Poor	Fixed	Good	Transparent	Display / inline	Single (GUI)	No
Better Math Equations		No	Medium-fast	Yes	Medium	Adjustable	Good	Transparent	Inline only	Full (\color{#abcdef})	No
Equation Editor ++		Yes	Medium	Partial	Medium	Adjustable	Poor	Transparent	Display / inline	Full (\color{#abcdef})	No
Hypatia Create (paid)		Yes	Fast	Yes	Good	Adjustable	High	Transparent	Display / inline	Full (GUI)	No	Paid, $15/year
MathType (paid)		Yes	Medium-slow	Yes	Medium	Fixed	High	Transparent	N/A — not LaTeX based	No	Yes	Paid, 30 day free trial

Above table, transposed:

App	Auto-LaTeX Equations	Better Math Equations	Equation Editor ++	Hypatia Create (paid)	MathType (paid)
Rendered output
Editable	Partial	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Speed	Very slow	Medium-fast	Medium	Fast	Medium-slow
Live preview	No	Yes	Partial	Yes	Yes
UX	Poor	Medium	Medium	Good	Medium
Resolution	Fixed	Adjustable	Adjustable	Adjustable	Fixed
Default resolution	Good	Good	Poor	High	High
Background	Transparent	Transparent	Transparent	Transparent	Transparent
LaTeX modes	Display / inline	Inline only	Display / inline	Display / inline	N/A — not LaTeX based
Colors	Single (GUI)	Full (\color{#abcdef})	Full (\color{#abcdef})	Full (GUI)	No
OCR	No	No	No	No	Yes
Notes				Paid, $15/year	Paid, 30 day free trial

Rating system:

• Editable: Can equations be edited afterwards? (The apps embed metadata within the generated images.)
• Speed: Rendering speed; very slow means 10--30 seconds per equation.
• Live preview: Live preview of the equation as it is being typed.
• UX: User experience; ease of workflow. Subjectively assessed (by me).
• Resolution: Resolution of the generated image; can it be adjusted?
• Default resolution: Default resolution of the generated image.
• Background: Transparent or white background?
• LaTeX modes: If LaTeX rendering engine, available modes have "display mode" or "inline mode" or both?
• Colors: Foreground colors or only black text?
• OCR: Handwriting recognition?
• Notes: Additional notes.

Other interesting apps that I haven't yet tried:

• HoLaTeX

Test equations:

\frac{1}{{\sqrt{\pi}}}\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}e^{-x^{2}}\,dx\,=\,1
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n^{2}}=\frac{\pi^{2}}{6}

Answer 4

Checkout the Chrome extension EquatIO.

With it it is possible to add equations with LaTeX to google slides.

Answer 5

I am working with Linux, so I do not know if there is similar software. In Linux, however, the simplest solution I know of is writing your LaTeX code into KLaTeXFormula, clicking on copy and pasting it with CTRL+V right into the document.

KLaTeXFormula is great software: It allows you to set your own preamble and also saves previous entries, which you can easily look up in a library.

Answer 6

Go to insert, click on special characters and everything that you need should be right there. This is only for google slides, I don't know how to do it for google docs. Another option is typing the equation in google docs and then pasting it in google slides.

Answer 7

There is no direct and clean way to add equations to Google Slides but you can make an equation in Microsoft Excel, copy it and paste it in Slides.

Note that you can't do this from Google Docs, that is, if you copy-paste an equation created in Docs, it will appear as plain text in Slides losing all equation formatting.

A tip: before you copy the equation from Excel, you may consider enlarging its size by selecting it > Home > Change Font Size.