Formatting your posts (headings, code, images)

General
1

Formatting your posts

Posts on this forum use Markdown, a lightweight way to add structure — headings, emphasis, lists, code, images — by typing a few plain characters. This topic covers the pieces you’ll use most.

Headings

Start a line with ## for a section heading and ### for a subsection. (A single # is reserved — the topic title is already the top level.)

## Setting up the problem
### First-order conditions

Emphasis and inline code

Use **bold** for emphasis, *italic* for terms, and `inline code` for symbols or short snippets.

renders as: Use bold for emphasis, italic for terms, and inline code for symbols or short snippets.

Lists

Unordered lists start each line with -; indent two spaces to nest. Ordered lists start with 1. (the numbers renumber themselves, so you can leave them all as 1.).

- Consumer theory
  - Utility maximisation
  - Expenditure minimisation
- Producer theory

1. Draw the graph.
2. Solve for the demands.

renders as:

  • Consumer theory
    • Utility maximisation
    • Expenditure minimisation
  • Producer theory
  1. Draw the graph.
  2. Solve for the demands.

Links

Wrap the visible text in […] and the address in (…). A bare URL on its own also becomes a link automatically.

See the [notes on the Slutsky equation](https://www.econschool.in/learn).

Quotes

Start a line with > to quote text — useful when replying to part of an earlier post.

> The substitution effect is always non-positive.

renders as:

The substitution effect is always non-positive.

Code blocks

For anything longer than a phrase, use a fenced code block: three backticks on their own line, before and after. Add a language name after the opening fence for syntax highlighting — handy for python or r.

```python
def cobb_douglas(x, y, alpha):
    return x**alpha * y**(1 - alpha)
```

renders as:

def cobb_douglas(x, y, alpha):
    return x**alpha * y**(1 - alpha)

Collapsible sections (hide a solution)

To tuck an answer behind a click — so readers can attempt a problem first — use a details block. Mathematics renders inside it normally.

[details="Show the solution"]
The Marshallian demands are $x^{*} = \dfrac{\alpha m}{p_x}$ and $y^{*} = \dfrac{(1-\alpha)m}{p_y}$.
[/details]

renders as:

Show the solution

The Marshallian demands are x^{*} = \dfrac{\alpha m}{p_x} and y^{*} = \dfrac{(1-\alpha)m}{p_y}.

Tables

Separate columns with | and put a row of dashes under the header.

| Good | Price | Quantity |
|------|-------|----------|
| A    | 10    | 5        |
| B    | 8     | 12       |

renders as:

Good Price Quantity
A 10 5
B 8 12

Images and diagrams

You don’t type image code by hand. Drag an image into the composer, paste it from the clipboard, or use the upload button (the up-arrow icon in the toolbar). The forum uploads the file and inserts the markup for you — something like ![diagram|500x300](upload://…​.png). You can edit the text before the | (the description) and the 500x300 (the display size).

For TikZ diagrams, upload a PNG export, not an SVG. The composer blocks SVG uploads by default, so a PNG is the reliable path for a mathematical figure. Photographs of handwritten working are fine too, but a rendered PNG reads best.

For equations and mathematical notation, see the companion topic on writing mathematics.

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