Why should we write \sqrt{2}
, while we could have √2? Instead of a monstrosity in (La)TeX syntax, like
f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty
\hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}
\,d\xi
wouldn’t it be lovely, if we could just type something along the lines of
f(x) = int{-inf inf} ^f(xi), e^{2 pi i xi x}, d xi
and have our editor convert that keyboard input, as we type, into a readable Unicode string
𝑓(𝑥) = −∞∫∞ 𝑓̂(ξ) 𝑒⁽2πiξx⁾ 𝑑ξ
which would be output on the client:
𝑓(𝑥) = ∫−∞∞ 𝑓̂(ξ) 𝑒2πiξx 𝑑ξ