Update (2026-03-20T00:37Z): @Meron35@lemmy.world, it has since been found that Typst is aware of this inconsistency ^[7]^.

[…] You can see how this would start to struggle even with high school level maths, with bracketed terms and possibly fractional terms in exponents, integrals, etc.

For example, it is very difficult for me to work out the difference between the following three in typst. That is specifically not what you want from a typesetting language.

1/2(x + y)
1/x(x + y)
1/2^x(x + y)

[…]

I think these are valid complaints. For clarity, this is the output that I found for each:

1. ^[1]^
2. ^[2]^
3. ^[3]^

I was surprised by the second; I expected it to produce ^[6]^. I didn't know what to expect for the third.

I tried searching through the documentation ^[4]^, but I was unable to find any information that exactly defined expressions ^[5]^, and how they are grouped within the fraction when juxtaposed like in your examples.

[…] LaTeX ignores whitespace, so you can just use a formatter to space out your code and ensure the curly braces. This is not even an option in typst, which uses the space as an escape character.

I'm not sure I exactly follow what you mean. Could you elaborate?

[…] \frac{n(n+1)}{2} in latex turns into (n(n + 1)) / 2 in typst […]

Note that one can also write that as frac(n(n+1), 2) ^[1][4]^.

[…] For example, \frac{n(n+1)}{2} in latex turns into (n(n + 1)) / 2 in typst. The typst code is incredibly unclear - the first set of brackets with the slash together actually form the fraction operator, so neither end up visible. […]

IMO, it's only unclear if one isn't familiar with the syntax — I think the documentation states the behaviour clearly:

[…] Multiple atoms can be grouped into a single expression using round grouping parentheses. Such parentheses are removed from the output, but you can nest multiple to force them. ^[1]^

This isn't in defense of Typist's syntax, but I challenge you to show the uninitiated your example LaTeX expression, \frac{n(n+1)}{2}, and see if they are able to accurately parse it.

The infix syntax is not great, but you can at least write frac(n (n + 1), 2) and it renders the way you would expect.

Edit:

This is not even an option in typst, which uses the space as an escape character.

Technically LaTeX does this too with omitted curly braces:

\sum_{n=1}^9   % works
\sum_{n=1}^10  % doesn't work

Everyone just quickly learns to not do that.