# mathjax broken for prime + no-braces superscript + subscript

It seems that terms like $q'^a_b$ stopped rendering correctly, since their superscript/subscript are not surrounded by braces (e.g., $q'^{a}_b$ should work). The error shown in preview is Missing open brace for superscript.

See, for instance, CS.SE/2984

• Must be this update Apr 26 '16 at 8:17
• Your example of q^a_b seems ok. The question is a special case: primes are treated as superscripts, so you need braces to identify where the subscript belongs (to the prime or to the base). Apr 26 '16 at 9:21
• @Gilles, it is not the update you indicate, which doesn't alter the expressions that MathJax will display. It was actually the update to MathJax v2.1 back in October of 2012 that caused those expressions to fail to parse. Apr 26 '16 at 14:13
• In LaTeX ' is a shortcut for ^{\prime}. So you want $q^{\prime a}_b$. Apr 26 '16 at 17:49
• Please include a screenshot so the post makes sense in the future!
– Raphael Mod
Apr 26 '16 at 18:21