Disappearing * character

For instance this line has a number of multiplication (*) characters in it and looks fine when editing and in preview

sqrt( QE^2p + QEp - QE^2p ) = sqrt( QEp )

However, they are gone once published.

Hi Alan, you should be able to see the original text if you click on 'edited x times' above.

Yes, introducing a space preserves the *

To me, it looks like the " * " character is being used by the editor to turn italics on/off.

@AlanSh has a nice clean method by using quote

Code block and inline code works too but it's not as nice as using quote. Inline code: sqrt( QE^2*p + QE*p - QE^2*p ) = sqrt( QE*p )

* is a formatting character used by Markdown, which is a text-to-html formatting tool supported by our current editor.

If I type *Hello* (asterix[nospace]Hello[nospace]asterix) I get Hello

If I use spaces I get this * Hello *

If you want to use an * inline, (as I did here, and above) you can precede it with the escape character \ (backslash)

\*Hello\* (BackslashAsterix[nospace]Hello[nospace]BackslashAsterix) = *Hello*

In my last example I also escape the backslash by preceding each of them with, you guessed it, another backslash.

I figured as much. I think your quote suggestion is pretty good (+ the latex interpreter;-)

I had the same issue with CIELstarastarbstar, when the stars are replaced with asterisks.

CIELab*

Here it is with backslashes: CIEL*a*b*

sqrt( QE^2*p + QE*p - QE^2*p ) = sqrt( QE*p )

Just don’t take my Markdown away! ;)

Hi,

Yes, the asterisk, also called the Splat character, is used before and after a word to be read as italic on a teletype. Yep. Paper terminals, which we used on computers before we had VDTs - Video Display Terminals. KSR-33, for example. Keyboard Send Receive model 33 that is.

It's called the Splat, because it looks like a bug which has been hit with the typing unit of a TTY. A Splat on the paper, as it were. Sometimes they are bugs. And I just added splats before and after the word 'are' there.

It translated over to the VDT quite well, even though later units had the capability to display italicized characters.

So the editor, or rather the programmer of the editor, has been around long enough to know of this convention. ;)

Next up: Did y'all know that the Fax has been around since the US Civil War? Yep. Used to send maps over telegraph lines! And still used for sending weather maps to small airports.

Stan

Also known as star, as in del *.* being pronounced "dell star dot star."

Hi,

Run that and there will be no files left! Not quite as bad as Format C: (!)

Stan

Hi,

BTW, the first time I went and used splats, or stars, before and after a word and saw where it subbed italics, I had a good chuckle. :)

Stan