# Makie/MathTeXEngine: what's the correct way for non-italic symbols in math expressions?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/makie-mathtexengine-whats-the-correct-way-for-non-italic-symbols-in-math-expressions/138646>\
**Category:** Visualization\
**Tags:** latex, makie\
**Created:** [August 6, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/makie-mathtexengine-whats-the-correct-way-for-non-italic-symbols-in-math-expressions/138646 "2026-08-06T14:20:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Datseris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/datseris/32/13406_2.png) [@Datseris](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Datseris)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/makie-mathtexengine-whats-the-correct-way-for-non-italic-symbols-in-math-expressions/138646/1 "2026-08-06T14:20:14Z")

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consider:

```julia-auto
lines!(ax, x, y; label = L"\mathrm{d}T/dt")

```

which produces:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/2/3/234c8588d35e36156a4ec176eb11c8e9d6d459c1.png)

as you can see, the size of the straight `d` character is incorrect and larger than it should be (I think?)

What is the appropriate way to remove the italic nature of a math character? I used to use `mathrm` but I guess this isn’t correct.

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**Author:** ![JonasWickman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@JonasWickman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/JonasWickman)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/makie-mathtexengine-whats-the-correct-way-for-non-italic-symbols-in-math-expressions/138646/2 "2026-08-06T14:53:28Z")

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Here’s a quick comparison screenshot of Makie/MathTeXEngine with a regularly compiled pdflatex file using the LatinModern package for the font. I tried both \text{d} and \mathrm{d}, but they appear identical as far as I can see. I’m not sure I see the ‘d’ being too big, but the font weight seems somewhat bolder in MathTexEngine.

 ![tex_comp](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/4/7/47c43818cf1d88e5cba2a69ec7314731540f8bf7.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Datseris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/datseris/32/13406_2.png) [@Datseris](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Datseris)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 2:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/makie-mathtexengine-whats-the-correct-way-for-non-italic-symbols-in-math-expressions/138646/3 "2026-08-06T14:55:44Z")

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thank you, so it appears that it just “feels” bigger to me. My bad! The circle of the `d` is sooo much larger in the straight version!