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For whatever reason, when I put the first equation in the question box it renders correctly (in the preview) on the math Stack Exchange site, but wrong on the physics Stack Exchange site (PSE). The opposite is true for the second equation.

When I right-click on the second equation in the preview and select "Show Math As TeX Commands", it shows me the LaTeX code of the first equation. I think this is some kind of bug. I'm mainly posting this as I'm wondering what it'll look like in the actual post.

$$Γ{}_{\mu} T_{\kappa}{}^{\lambda }$$

$$Γ{}\_{\mu} T\_{\kappa}{}\^{\lambda }$$

Edit: Ok, that's just weird. So now that it's posted, the top equation looks right, but the bottom one is all messed up? Why? The bad thing about this is new questions need to be made to test this out (maybe answers would work too?). It looks the same in edit mode as it does when posted. How odd...

Edit 2: Simplified the example. Also, the glitch doesn't manifest when posting an answer, only question creation. My browser is Google Chrome/Version 107.0.5304.88 (Official Build) (64-bit) and my operating system is Windows 10, 21H2.

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    $\begingroup$ What’s up with \^ ? That isn’t a valid sequence, is it? $\endgroup$
    – Ghoster
    Nov 8, 2022 at 4:30
  • $\begingroup$ @Ghoster It is not! I had to add \'s before _'s and ^'s so they displayed properly in the question creation preview. However, as you said, it's invalid. As soon as the question is posted, it breaks. Strangely enough, the equation without them goes from broken to functional! Copy my post and paste it into a new question dialog box to see the weird behavior. $\endgroup$
    – Laff70
    Nov 8, 2022 at 4:36
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    $\begingroup$ In the spirit of a “minimal working example”: can you trim your text to the shortest expression which produces the bug? Or is it a problem that only appears in a long expression? I am getting a little cross-eyed trying to see what’s happening in your six-line equation, and you want it to be clear to whomever ends up fixing your bug. Also, please add browser name/version/platform information that you have tested so far. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Nov 8, 2022 at 5:48
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    $\begingroup$ If you want a low-stakes place to experiment with new (or highly edited) answers, use this “sandbox” question. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Nov 8, 2022 at 5:51
  • $\begingroup$ @rob I edited my post by the way. $\endgroup$
    – Laff70
    Nov 9, 2022 at 21:01

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If I understood correctly, from the two copies of the equation on your post, on PSE,

  • the first one looked erroneous on preview but looks fine on final render on your browser, and
  • the second one looked OK on preview but displays errors on the final render.

On your question, on my browser, the first one looks OK and the second one (which has clearly incorrect syntax) does not. If I copy your question text into the answer box (or into a new question), I see the following:

On my browser (chrome 107.0.5304.87 64-bit over Ubuntu 22.04), MathJax is thus behaving as expected. So it sounds like the problem might be local to (some component of the software stack on) your machine.

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