## WeBWorK Problems

### popup menus and math type

Number of replies: 3
Is there a way for popup menus to have epsilon/delta be a symbol instead of the word? I tried this:

\$popup1 = PopUp(['?','For every epsilon > 0 ', 'there exists a delta >0 ', 'such that if 0<abs(x-a)< delta','then abs(f(x) - N)<epsilon' ],'For every epsilon > 0 ');

and the symbol did show up, but it showed up twice.

thanks,
Teresa

### Re: popup menus and math type

by Sean Fitzpatrick -
If you figure it out, I'd love to know the answer! We ran into the same problem, for exactly the same reason. A student working for us tried using unicode as a workaround, but that didn't work out well. I don't recall the exact reason.

I believe someone suggested in an earlier forum post that this might require writing a new javascript-based popup, so that MathJax could be used.

### Re: popup menus and math type

by Danny Glin -
I'm surprised it works as well as it does, and it may be a coincidence that it works at all.

The fundamental issue with putting text in MathObject PopUp menus is that they are currently handled using the standard HTML drop-down menu which is limited to displaying plain text.

If my understanding of MathJax (the underlying LaTeX renderer) is correct, then wherever possible it uses characters from the available fonts for math symbols, so for delta and epsilon it is using extended characters, and not any sort of graphics. You will definitely run into trouble if you try to enter complex mathematical expressions in a PopUp since this can't be done with just extended characters.

For now, I believe the state of the code is that putting anything beyond basic text in a PopUp list is not supported. In most cases I would recommend using radio buttons instead of PopUp lists if you want to include any LaTeX in the answers.