Topics Map > Accessibility
Accessible Math
Math Accessibility Requirements
WCAG accessibility standards require that math equations are provided in a format that screen readers can interpret as structured (semantic) math, not just as visual text.
When math has semantic structure, screen reader users can explore an equation’s parts rather than only hearing the equation read from start to finish. For example, when an equation has semantic structure, a screen reader user can:
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Go back to just the denominator
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Check what is inside the square root
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Confirm what the exponent applies to
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Compare two sub-parts without replaying everything
The following video demonstrates how screen reader users can navigate an accessible equation.
What Is Semantic Structure?
When an equation has semantic structure, it means there is invisible code behind the equation that identifies each part of the equation and how the parts relate to one another.
For example, the code tells screen readers: “this part is the numerator,” “this part is the denominator,” and “this expression is inside a square root.”
Semantic structure allows a screen reader user to move around to different parts of the equation, rather than only listening to it read from start to finish.
⚠️ Important: Equations are not considered accessible if they do not have semantic structure.
How Math Equations Get Semantic Structure
You give equations semantic structure by using the following:
- Canvas (most common) - MathJax: Canvas uses MathJax to turn what you enter in the Canvas Equation Editor into a structured equation.
- Microsoft Office - OMML: In Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, equations created with Microsoft's built-in Equation Editor use Office Mathematical Markup Language (OMML) to create structured math.
- Web pages - MathML: Some websites publish equations using Mathematical Markup Language (MathML), which gives the equation its invisible structure.
Recommended Formats for Accessible Math
These are the recommended formats for sharing math in course materials so students can read and navigate equations accessibly. For the best student experience, put required math directly in Canvas whenever possible; use file formats only when you truly need a downloadable document.
Canvas Pages (Recommended Format)
Overview
The recommended format for math in instructional materials is Canvas. When you put math directly in Canvas Pages, students can read and navigate the math right inside Canvas without having to download a file first
In Canvas, the most reliable way to create accessible equations is to use the Canvas Equation Editor which uses MathJax to display equations and give them the semantic structure screen readers need.
Adding Math to Canvas
Add math to your Canvas Pages (or Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, and Announcements) using either method:
- Use the Page’s Equation Editor (recommended): Enter or paste each equation into the Canvas Equation Editor . Canvas will use MathJax to turn your equation input into structured math.
- The Canvas Equation Editor lets you build equations using buttons for fractions, roots, exponents, symbols, and matrices.
- If you already have LaTeX, you can paste/type it into the Equation Editor, and Canvas will convert it into a formatted equation.
See Inserting and Editing Equations in Canvas.
- Paste HTML that contains MathML (advanced): This is an advanced method that can be appropriate when you need to enter a large number of equations at once. See Converting LaTeX to an Accessible Format
Microsoft Word (Accessible File Option)
Overview
If you need to distribute math content in a file (e.g., you need a worksheet students can download, fill/type in, and submit), Microsoft Word (.docx) is the recommended format.
When you create equations in Word using Microsoft's built-in Equation Editor, the Office Equation Editor automatically stores them with invisible OMML-based structure that screen readers can navigate within those applications.
⚠️ Important:
- OMML does not work reliably outside of Microsoft Office tools.
- When Word documents, PowerPoint slides, OneNote notebooks, or Excel spreadsheets are converted to PDF, the underlying math structure is usually lost. As a result, the equations may still look correct, but the semantic structure needed for accessibility is no longer available to screen readers.
Adding Math to Word
Do the following through the Microsoft Equation Editor:
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Manually build equations using buttons for fractions, roots, exponents, matrices, and symbols.
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Paste LaTeX into the editor, which Microsoft Office converts into a structured equation.
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Draw equations by hand, which the editor converts into a formatted math expression.
Inserting and Editing Equations in Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel
ePub (Secondary Format)
ePub files that include MathML can be accessible when opened in compatible eBook readers. ePub is acceptable as a secondary format, but not recommended for core course content in Canvas.
While ePub format can be accessible, it may also present barriers to students. For example: ePub files in Canvas must be downloaded and opened in a compatible eBook reader software such as Thorium Reader.
The ePub format could be appropriate for:
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Long, book-like resources
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Supplemental readings
Formats That Are Not Accessible for Math
Avoid these formats for math equations, because they do not provide the semantic structure required for screen readers to navigate and explore equations.
Even if these formats look fine and can be read aloud by a screen reader, they usually do not allow someone with a screen reader to navigate through different elements of an equation, which is a requirement to meet accessibility standards.
PDFs
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PDFs generated from LaTeX, Word, or PowerPoint
The mathematical structure is usually flattened during PDF creation, so screen readers cannot navigate the parts of an equation. -
Scanned PDFs of worksheets, handwritten notes, or exams
These are images of math and contain no semantic structure, even when OCR is applied and the PDF is tagged. -
PDFs of journal articles or textbooks
These are designed for print, not for navigable access and do not reliably expose math structure to screen readers.
⚠️ Important: There is no reliable way to remediate math structure once equations are in PDF format.
LaTeX That Is Not Converted to MathML
Students do not interact with the LaTeX code itself, only with its published format. If LaTeX is not converted to MathML or OMML, the equation structure is not available to screen readers.
Plain Text That Looks Like Math
Typed equations using keyboard characters are not accessible.
Example: x = (-b ± sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)) / 2a
While a screen reader can read the text, it does not provide the structure needed for navigation or exploration.
Images of Equations
Even when alt text is provided, pictures of equations do not allow screen reader users to interact with the internal structure of an equation.
Is LaTeX Accessible?
Accessibility depends on what LaTeX is converted into and how students interact with the final content.
Publishing LaTeX as Accessible Math
LaTeX can result in accessible math when it is converted into formats that preserve semantic structure, such as:
- Canvas Pages with MathJax (recommended for Canvas)
Most reliable method to enter LaTeX into Canvas: use the Canvas Equation Editor.
- Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Excel (OMML)
LaTeX equations that are pasted into the Microsoft Office Equation Editor are structured and can be accessible within Office applications.
Important: If you convert a Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, or Excel file with accessible math to PDF, the semantic structure will not transfer to the PDF.
- ePub with math support (secondary option)
While ePub format can be accessible, the format may also present barriers to students. For example: ePub files in Canvas must be downloaded and opened in a compatible eBook reader software such as Thorium Reader.
When LaTeX Does Not Result in Accessible Math
LaTeX does not result in accessible math when it is converted into:
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PDFs
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Images (even with alt text)
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Plain text
In these formats, the mathematical structure is usually flattened or hidden, and screen readers cannot reliably navigate within equations, even if the equation is read aloud.
Converting LaTeX to an Accessible Format
If you already have your math in LaTeX, the recommended way to make it accessible is to add it to Canvas Pages so students can access it without downloading files. Canvas uses MathJax to turn your equation input into properly formatted math. You can add math to your Canvas Pages in the following ways:
Add Math Through the Page's Equation Editor (Recommended)
Enter or paste each equation into the Page through the Equation Editor. Canvas then converts the equation into formatted math that can be navigated by screen readers.
This is the most reliable and recommended method to add accessible equations to Canvas.
Paste HTML Containing MathJax-compatible Equations into the Page (Advanced)
This advanced method can be appropriate when you need to enter a large number of equations at once.
You use can use the free tool, Pandoc, to convert LaTeX to HTML. Use Pandoc’s MathJax option (pandoc input.tex -t html5 --mathjax -o out.html), which keeps your equations in a MathJax-friendly format for Canvas.
Note that this method is less reliable than entering math through the Equation Editor, so it is important to verify that the content converted correctly:
- If you see raw LaTeX (backslashes/braces), it did not convert correctly.
- Use Student View and confirm the equations still appear as formatted math.
- Right-clicking a MathJax equation should show a MathJax menu. If a MathJax menu appears, that indicates the equation is MathJax-rendered
Resources
Is Math in a PDF Accessible?
Math equations in PDFs are almost never accessible.
When math is exported to PDF (from LaTeX, Word, or PowerPoint):
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Fractions, roots, and exponents are turned into visual shapes.
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The relationships between parts of the equation are flattened.
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Screen readers now cannot identify:
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What is a numerator vs denominator
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What is inside a square root
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What an exponent applies to
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How matrix cells relate to each other
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Even if the PDF looks perfect, and can be read aloud, the semantic structure is gone, so screen reader users can no longer navigate to different parts of an equation.
What the LaTeX Project Paper Means (and Doesn’t Mean) for Math PDFs
This section addresses questions regarding the MathML and other XML Technologies for Accessible PDF from LATEX paper that discusses the possibility of embedding MathML in PDFs.
Unfortunately, the LaTeX Project paper describes a future-facing PDF architecture, not a format that currently provides reliable, navigable math access for students using screen readers.
The paper presents a roadmap and research direction rather than a claim that accessible math PDFs are already solved or ready for widespread instructional use.
The paper explains how MathML could be embedded in PDFs as part of a preliminary workflow.
It does not claim that current PDFs reliably support navigable math for screen reader users. If the equations cannot be entered and explored using screen readers, then the math does not meet accessibility requirements, even if MathML exists somewhere inside the PDF file. In other words, the paper explores how MathML might be stored, not how students with screen readers actually experience it. Currently, navigation inside equations is often unavailable.
The paper argues that recent LaTeX developments make it possible to automatically embed MathML into PDFs, which is an important technical step toward accessible STEM documents. However, the authors are clear that automation alone is not sufficient. Automatically-generated accessibility structures will not correctly capture all mathematical meaning in all disciplines.
The paper discusses ongoing research into interpreting PDF structure trees as XML and validating them with extensible grammars. This would make it possible (for the first time) to define and validate custom math structures in PDFs. The authors emphasize that more research and better interfaces are needed before this can be practical or usable at scale.
Important: Accessibility must be evaluated by the student experience. If a student cannot enter and explore equations using assistive technology (e.g., move to the denominator, explore inside radicals, or verify what an exponent applies to), then the math does not meet accessibility requirements, even if MathML exists somewhere inside the PDF.
Quotes from the Paper:
Screen Reader Support Is Incomplete and Not Reliable
- “currently not many PDF readers will recognize files embedded in this way…”
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“support in the Foxit PDF Reader is being developed.”
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“…due to the expressive nature of the TEX input, this is hard to get right in all cases and further improvements are expected…”
- “Acrobat’s Tags panel does not provide a reliable way to inspect or validate embedded MathML.”
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“there is no standard way to validate the structure in a PDF document.”
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“PDF validators will not validate MathML embedded as an Associated File…”
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“the whole MathML expression may be accepted even if the MathML encoding is incorrect as no checking of the MathML structure is done.”
Can a PDF with Math Be Remediated?
Math in a PDF usually cannot be remediated in Acrobat in a way that meets accessibility requirements, even if the PDF was created from LaTeX or Word.
Why Acrobat (and Other PDF Remediation Tools) Cannot Remediate Equations
Adobe Acrobat can:
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Tag paragraphs and headings
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Mark figures and tables
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Add alt text to images
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Improve reading order
Acrobat cannot:
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Reconstruct the semantic structure of a math equation
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Turn visual math back into navigable math
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Convert flattened equations into MathML
- Recreate things like:
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Numerator/denominator relationships
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Radical groupings
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Exponent/base associations
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Matrix navigation
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That information simply is not in the PDF anymore.
When Is PDF Math Remediation Possible?
There are very rare cases where remediation might be possible:
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Extremely simple expressions (e.g.,
x + 2 = 5) -
PDFs that already contain fully tagged, high-quality MathML, which is nearly impossible.
⚠️ Important: Rewriting or converting the math to a Canvas page (HTML with MathML equations) or a Word doc (with OMML equations) is almost always faster and more effective than attempting PDF remediation.