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Yesterday I extended one of my answers. Hosted on the chemistry site, chemical equations were used, yet it was rather by accident I recognized the option to use LaTeX's mhchem environment \ce{} inside the mathematical mode. An inline reaction equation (like this following $\ce{2 H2 + O2 -> H2O}$) written with the \ce{}-environment is a lot easier written and maintained than in "mathematical only" mode (like $2\, \mathrm{H}_2 + \mathrm{O} \rightarrow \mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O}$). Yet these examples do not cover advanced features mhchem eases to input like presence of charges like $\ce{Na+}$ viz. $\mathrm{Na}^+$.

Therefore this suggestion, to add a note on the corresponding markdown editing help page that states its existence and briefly demonstrates a minimal working example.

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  • $\begingroup$ All sites Exchange-wide have recently moved from a "faq" based help to the Help center. We will look into incorporating the information into that for everyone's reference. Thanks for pointing this out. $\endgroup$
    – jonsca
    Jul 13, 2013 at 8:17
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    $\begingroup$ Note that a help center page for this already exists, it's just not so visible $\endgroup$ Jul 13, 2013 at 10:14
  • $\begingroup$ Great pickup! I'ma test it now: $\ce{H2O}$ $\endgroup$
    – Tomcat
    Aug 8, 2013 at 11:21

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I'll just see if I can draft the contents of a new section here:

LaTeX

We support most LaTeX math commands, as well as the \ce{} extension from the mhchem package. Just enclose your TeX code with $ ... $ (for inline math), or $$ ... $$ (if you want it centered on its own line) and it will render. If you wish to use chemical formulae or equations, simply use the ce{} macro around the

Here is some inline math $\sqrt{x+1}$
Here is some block level math $$\frac{1}{x+1}$$
$\ce{H2O}$ is the chemical formula for water

For more information, please see this TeX tutorial

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