How to Write Math Subscripts on Medium

Is your New Year’s resolution to write more math blogs on Medium?

Then here is what you need to do to write subscripts, which are pretty essential elements of a math blog, on Medium.

I waited for Medium to add this feature, but it just never does, so as of this writing in January 2023, the only way to write a math subscript on Medium is to copy and paste the Unicode. (Actually, it’s not that bad!)

Subscript Numbers: ₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉

Subscript Letters: ₐ ᵦ 𝒸 𝒹 ₑ 𝒻 𝓰 ₕ ᵢ ⱼ ₖ ₗ ₘ ₙ ₒ ₚ ᵣ ₛ ₜ ᵤ ᵥ 𝓌 ₓ ᵧ 𝓏

Subscript Operators: ₍ ₊ ₋ ₌ ₎

Using these, you can express

X² = X₁² + X₂² + … + Xₙ²

For superscript, you can just use ^.

If you type X ^ 2, it will come out as X².

Answering reader’s request:

Here you go!

Superscript Letters: ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ ᵈ ᵉ ᶠ ᵍ ʰ ᶦ ʲ ᵏ ˡ ᵐ ⁿ ᵒ ᵖ ʳ ˢ ᵗ ᵘ ᵛ ʷ ˣ ʸ ᶻ

We don’t have q in superscript Unicode. I don’t know why.

You can get more from Unicode subscripts and superscripts.

On the other hand, if you want to find the unicode from the characters:

characters = '⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ⁺ ⁻ ⁼ ⁽ ⁾ ₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉ ₊ ₋ ₌ ₍ ₎ ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ ᵈ ᵉ ᶠ ᵍ ʰ ⁱ ʲ ᵏ ˡ ᵐ ⁿ ᵒ ᵖ ʳ ˢ ᵗ ᵘ ᵛ ʷ ˣ ʸ ᶻ ᴬ ᴮ ᴰ ᴱ ᴳ ᴴ ᴵ ᴶ ᴷ ᴸ ᴹ ᴺ ᴼ ᴾ ᴿ ᵀ ᵁ ⱽ ᵂ ₐ ₑ ₕ ᵢ ⱼ ₖ ₗ ₘ ₙ ₒ ₚ ᵣ ₛ ₜ ᵤ ᵥ ₓ ᵅ ᵝ ᵞ ᵟ ᵋ ᶿ ᶥ ᶲ ᵠ ᵡ ᵦ ᵧ ᵨ ᵩ ᵪ'
for c in characters.split():
    print(c + '=' + hex(ord(c)))

You got the Unicodes!

ᵃ=0x1d43
ᵇ=0x1d47
ᶜ=0x1d9c
ᵈ=0x1d48
ᵉ=0x1d49
ᶠ=0x1da0
ᵍ=0x1d4d
ʰ=0x2b0
ⁱ=0x2071
ʲ=0x2b2
ᵏ=0x1d4f
ˡ=0x2e1
ᵐ=0x1d50
ⁿ=0x207f
ᵒ=0x1d52
ᵖ=0x1d56
ʳ=0x2b3
ˢ=0x2e2
ᵗ=0x1d57
ᵘ=0x1d58
ᵛ=0x1d5b
ʷ=0x2b7
ˣ=0x2e3
ʸ=0x2b8
ᶻ=0x1dbb