Accessible Math with the Canvas Equation Editor

Instructure is always improving Canvas accessibility, and the built-in equation editor tool reflects this work. The equation editor has buttons for math elements and can also take LaTeX input. The resulting equations work with screen reader software for any students who interact with Canvas via audio.

There are two methods to access the Canvas Equation Editor:

• In the menu bar above the Rich Content Editor (RCE), select Insert and then Equation.
• Expand the toolbar using the More button (three vertical dots) and then select the button with the symbol for the Square Root of x().

The equation editor’s main advantage over the EquatIO plug-in is that equations made with the built-in equation editor can be edited again. EquatIO’s equations cannot be edited once completed.

Canvas Editor Specific Cases

The Canvas Equation Editor does not take all LaTeX syntax, especially those that require special packages. Some specific quirks are listed below:

• “/displaystyle{ }” might be needed if elements such as indexes or limits are displaying in-line.
  • Without displaystyle:x_\alpha \in \bigcap_{D \in \mathcal{D}} \overline{\pi_\alpha(D)}
  • With displaystyle:\displaystyle{x_\alpha \in \bigcap_{D \in \mathcal{D}} \overline{\pi_\alpha(D)}}
• For systems of equations, the “align” environment works:
  \begin{align}
  y – y_1 &= m \left( x – x_1 \right)\\
  y + 3 &= \frac{2}{3} \left( x – \frac{7}{2} \right)
  \end{align}
  

• Canvas Community: How do I use the math Equation Editor in the Rich Content Editor?
• Canvas Community: Math Expressions Using LaTeX