jsxgraph and mathjax issues

[Kyle Monette]

Hi folks,

I made some interactive graphs using Jsxgraph, where I use mathjax for text labels. Everything builds okay, but the latex is only "compiled" after the user moves a point, glider, etc on the plot. Which is obviously not desired.

Take this graph, for example. The latex only compiles once a point is moved. I tested this on Chrome and Safari.

It appears that pretext is loading a script for jsxgraph that is out of date, based on their documentation. See attached screenshot. An example on their website loads MJ4 as it should.

I am using version 2.39.0 of Pretext CLI.

Thank you for any help and insights!

[OHappyDay]

Hi,

can you post a snippet of pretext code for your example? Maybe it is an issue with github but it would be working with a local installation of pretext.

Klaus  

[Kyle Monette]

Hi Klaus,

Thanks for looking into this. Here is the pretext code that I used in the section file for the book:

<figure xml:id="fig_1_5_arc_graph">
<interactive platform="jsxgraph" source="jsxgraph/jsx_1_5_arc_graph.js" width="60%">
 <slate xml:id="jsx_1_5_arc_graph_fig" surface="jsxboard"/>
 <instructions>
 <p>Change the values of <m>a</m> and <m>b</m> to see how the <m>\aroc</m> changes.</p>
 </instructions>
</interactive>
</figure>

Here is the jsx file that is linked to from above.

Thanks,
Kyle 

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[OHappyDay]

Hi Kyle,

sorry, I am unable to run your example. I don't know where to put the .js file before building the sample project (first time I use JSXGraph).

Klaus

[Kyle Monette]

Klaus,

Here is a minimal GitHub repo that contains the jsx file.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/693b1e72-9680-47e9-ae12-1d2f10f5b750n%40googlegroups.com.

[OHappyDay]

Ok, thanks. The .js file goes into assets/jsxgraph/ 

After building I see the same behaviour as you see it so it is not github related but an issue of pretext itself.

The .js file that you mention in the first post is the .js file for loading MathJax 4 per their official documentation. So this is not the root cause.
I can't see any references in the HTML code to JSXGraph so I am lost about how JSXGraph is loaded at all.

Klaus

[OHappyDay]

Alas, I found a file (output/web/fig_1_5_arc_graph-1-if.html) that contains the code for inclusion for JSXGraph as described on their homepage. Pretext loads version 1.8.0 but the actual version is 1.12.2.

I manually changed the two lines (for .js and .css files) so that version 1.12.2 is loaded but the behaviour does not change. The build process generates an additional .js file that contains jsx related code: output/web/external/jsxgraph/jsx_1_5_arc_graph.js. Maybe this file contains code based on version 1.8.0 but would be different if generated off of version 1.12.2.

Klaus

[OHappyDay]

I investigated further and found this: 

When I inidividually open the the file that contains the JSXGraph (fig_1_5_arc_graph-1-if.html) the Javascript console logs the information "MathJax (not yet) loaded"! 

This means that MathJax is not yet active and explains why the text inside the graph is shown as is.

MathJax is loaded using the "defer" keyword:

<script defer src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@4/tex-mml-chtml.js"></script>

When I remove the "defer" keyword and try again, the previous behaviour is gone and everything works as expected.

Klaus

[OHappyDay]

Wait a moment: this is getting even weirder. Now without the "defer" keyword the previous behaviour is reversed: on loading the page the text is interpreted by MathJax but after moving one of the points in the graph the text escapes back to the literal version without being interpreted by MathJax (console again shows "MathJax (not yet) loaded".

Crazy stuff :-(

[Andrew Scholer]

It looks like PreTeXt was not marking the JSXGraph interactive as needing MathJax processing. (It is opt-in for parts of the page).

I made a pull request with a fix here: 

https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext/pull/2880

Andrew Scholer

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[Kyle Monette]

Hi Andrew,

This appears to be working brilliantly! Huge thanks to you and Klaus for looking into this issue.

Kyle 

[OHappyDay]

I can confirm that the fix is also working in my local environment.

[Kyle Monette]

So as a (hopefully quick) follow-up to this …. I noticed that the preview images for the graphs are not rendering the latex. Namely, when I run:
pretext generate -t print interactive

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pretext-support/7d580193-1529-4fed-b6aa-da5459bb6486n%40googlegroups.com.

[Rob Beezer]

Thanks, Kyle, Klaus, and Andrew for your work on this. I'd been meaning to hop
in, but have been distracted with some larger PreTeXt tasks, so I'm glad to see
this sorted out. Andrew's PR, of course, made it easier to see what was happening.

Fix is in: https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext/pull/2880

and there is now an example in the sample article (thanks, Andrew, for placing
that!):

Figure 14.17
https://pretextbook.org/examples/sample-article/html/section-interactive-authored.html#interactive-jsx-arc-graph

Rob

On 5/29/26 06:16, 'OHappyDay' via PreTeXt support wrote:
> I can confirm that the fix is also working in my local environment.
>
>
>
> kmon...@uri.edu schrieb am Donnerstag, 28. Mai 2026 um 21:58:58 UTC+2:
>
> Hi Andrew,
>
> This appears to be working brilliantly! Huge thanks to you and Klaus for
> looking into this issue.
>
> Kyle
>
>
> On Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 3:37:47 PM UTC-4 asch...@chemeketa.edu wrote:
>
> It looks like PreTeXt was not marking the JSXGraph interactive as
> needing MathJax processing. (It is opt-in for parts of the page).
>
> I made a pull request with a fix here:

> https://github.com/PreTeXtBook/pretext/pull/2880 <https://github.com/
> PreTeXtBook/pretext/pull/2880>

>
> Andrew Scholer
>
> On Wed, May 27, 2026 at 3:04 PM 'OHappyDay' via PreTeXt support
> <pretext...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Wait a moment: this is getting even weirder. Now without the "defer"
> keyword the previous behaviour is reversed: on loading the page the
> text is interpreted by MathJax but after moving one of the points in
> the graph the text escapes back to the literal version without being
> interpreted by MathJax (console again shows "MathJax (not yet) loaded".
>
> Crazy stuff :-(
>
> OHappyDay schrieb am Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2026 um 23:55:29 UTC+2:
>
> I investigated further and found this:
>
> When I inidividually open the the file that contains the
> JSXGraph (fig_1_5_arc_graph-1-if.html) the Javascript console
> logs the information "MathJax (not yet) loaded"!
> This means that MathJax is not yet active and explains why the
> text inside the graph is shown as is.
>
> MathJax is loaded using the "defer" keyword:
>
> <scriptdefersrc="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@4/tex-mml-

> chtml.js <https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@4/tex-mml-
> chtml.js>"></script>

> Here is a minimal GitHub repo <https://github.com/
> kylemonette/jsx-example> that contains the jsx file.

>> Here is the jsx file <https://urldefense.com/
>> v3/__https://pastebin.com/UkS2pg32__;!!Jh1S!
>> mU28rln65Tx1onDCkfLpWsBUkI_nZseNsuIEGbpo3bnWEnxs6NeeIvw24N3nT9fVRmSYoHpzAgWjMxc7Oiy_17VUTGtifc4$> that is linked to from above.

>>
>> Thanks,
>> Kyle
>> On May 26, 2026 at 2:28 AM -0400, 'OHappyDay'
>> via PreTeXt support
>> <pretext...@googlegroups.com>, wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> can you post a snippet of pretext code for
>>> your example? Maybe it is an issue with
>>> github but it would be working with a local
>>> installation of pretext.
>>>
>>> Klaus
>>> kmon...@uri.edu schrieb am Sonntag, 24. Mai
>>> 2026 um 21:36:40 UTC+2:
>>>
>>> Hi folks,
>>>
>>> I made some interactive graphs using
>>> Jsxgraph, where I use mathjax for text
>>> labels. Everything builds okay, but the
>>> latex is only "compiled" after the user
>>> moves a point, glider, etc on the plot.
>>> Which is obviously not desired.
>>>

>>> Take this graph <https://urldefense.com/
>>> v3/__https://kylemonette.github.io/
>>> mth103-book/fig_1_5_arc_graph-1.html__;!!
>>> Jh1S!
>>> jp78lxVL1X2KEoCWQvSD_fEPG0Vk8qxrjSzToKq-
>>> KFiR6Bgs7rsXy6r18gjBM85aVmsIyoYT8x7rNXVih3oo-9GwAy00ldY$>, for example. The latex only compiles once a point is moved. I tested this on Chrome and Safari.

>>>
>>> It appears that pretext is loading a
>>> script for jsxgraph that is out of date,

>>> based on their documentation <https://
>>> urldefense.com/v3/__https://jsxgraph.org/
>>> home/learn/gettingstarted/__;!!Jh1S!
>>> jp78lxVL1X2KEoCWQvSD_fEPG0Vk8qxrjSzToKq-
>>> KFiR6Bgs7rsXy6r18gjBM85aVmsIyoYT8x7rNXVih3oo-9GwnFXtGLk$>. See attached screenshot. An example <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://jsxgraph.org/home/learn/templates/__;!!Jh1S!jp78lxVL1X2KEoCWQvSD_fEPG0Vk8qxrjSzToKq-KFiR6Bgs7rsXy6r18gjBM85aVmsIyoYT8x7rNXVih3oo-9GwFIKpx7Y$> on their website loads MJ4 as it should.

>>>
>>> I am using version 2.39.0 of Pretext CLI.
>>>
>>> Thank you for any help and insights!
>>>
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>>
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