



Network Working Group                                           A. Rossi
Internet-Draft                              RFC Series Consulting Editor
Intended status: Informational                                M. Thomson
Expires: 31 July 2026                                                   
                                                               L. Eggert
                                                         27 January 2026


                     Mathematical notation in RFCs
                       draft-rossi-mathinrfcs-00

Abstract

   This document defines policy and allows new technology for the
   representation of mathematical notation in RFCXML and relevant
   publication formats.  After implementation of this policy,
   mathematical notation in RFCXML and the HTML publication format will
   no longer be accepted in Unicode or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs).

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   The latest revision of this draft can be found at
   https://github.com/alexisannerossi/id-mathinrfcs/edit/main/draft-
   rossi-mathinrfcs-00.md.  Status information for this document may be
   found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-rossi-mathinrfcs/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the RSWG Editorial Stream
   Working Group mailing list (mailto:rswg@rfc-editor.org), which is
   archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/rswg/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/alexisannerossi/id-mathinrfcs.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.







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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Policy Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Implementation Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4

1.  Introduction

   This document allows new technology for the representation of
   mathematical notation in RFCXML and relevant publication formats
   defined in [RFC9720].  This document also defines policy requirements
   for the inclusion of mathematical content.

   Mathematical notation in RFCs will no longer be accepted in Unicode
   or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) for RFCXML or the HTML publication
   format.  Other publication formats may use the best solution
   available for displaying math.  This document specifically removes
   support for displaying math in unicode or SVGs in the HTML
   publication format as these are not adequately accessible to all
   readers.

   The RFC Publication Center (RPC) is responsible for tooling and
   implementation decisions regarding this policy.  We expect the
   adoption of this policy to require changes and adaptation during
   implementation in early documents using this technology.



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2.  Policy Requirements

   *  Mathematical notation should appear correctly in RFCXML, HTML and
      PDF publication formats, as well as any future publication formats
      that can support it.  The RPC will determine how to best represent
      math in the Text publication format.

   *  Mathematical notation should support both “inline” and “block”
      form.  "Inline" refers to notation that is used as part of text
      (like this x) and "block" form refers to equations that might be
      referenced in the same way that a figure is.

   *  It must be possible to reference “block” form equations from the
      text in a way that clearly distinguishes them from references to
      figures (or other elements that can be referenced, such as
      citations).  In academic writing, figures are usually referenced
      as “Fig. n” while equations are referenced as “Eq. n”.

   *  Major desktop and mobile browsers must be capable of natively
      rendering the mathematical notation correctly in the HTML
      publication format.

   *  The chosen implementation should allow representation of both the
      meaning and the formatting of the mathematical content.

   *  Accessibility should be supported for readers of the HTML
      publication format who rely on various devices, software, and
      visual presentations (e.g. braille readers, screen readers,
      enlarging, and text formatting).  The RPC will refer to the W3C
      Accessibility Guidelines [WAI] when making decisions regarding
      accessibility.

   The RPC is authorized to make decisions about the representation of
   mathematical notation for both technical and editorial reasons in
   order to ensure that published RFCs meet the above policy and to
   provide consistency across the RFC series.  The RPC must document
   their decisions in a public place, and all changes to tooling or
   implementation decisions must be widely communicated to the RFC
   author community using mailing lists or other means.

3.  Implementation Guidance

   The RPC is expected to solicit community input before making
   decisions and to publicly explain their reasoning.

   Documentation produced by the RPC should describe what technical and
   editorial constraints apply to the HTML publication format and CSS
   files.



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   Where possible, implementation decisions should focus on specifying
   what is disallowed, rather than attempting to specify exactly what is
   allowed.  These decisions should also consider the authoring process
   as a significant factor in implementation.

   The RPC should periodically review and revise their practices.

4.  Security Considerations

   This document has no security considerations.

5.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

6.  Acknowledgements

   This document has greatly benefited from the input of Carsten Bormann
   who provided significant input on the early draft versions of this
   document.

7.  Informative References

   [RFC9720]  Hoffman, P. and H. Flanagan, "RFC Formats and Versions",
              RFC 9720, DOI 10.17487/RFC9720, January 2025,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9720>.

   [WAI]      W3C, "W3C Accessibility Standards Overview", n.d.,
              <https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/>.

Authors' Addresses

   Alexis Rossi
   RFC Series Consulting Editor
   Email: rsce@rfc-editor.org


   Martin Thomson
   Email: mt@lowentropy.net


   Lars Eggert
   Email: lars@eggert.org








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