Markdown Is Not LaTeX

Microsoft's modification of GitHub Flavored Markdown to support LaTeX math expressions using isolated dollar signs ($...$) violates the original design principle of Markdown simplicity and creates parsing ambiguities in real-world use cases. The change conflicts with existing conventions where dollar signs naturally appear in prose (currency, code variables), making it difficult for parsers to distinguish between intended math notation and regular text, particularly in international documents. The author argues this represents a departure from the 2015 industry standard of using double-dollar delimiters ($$...$$), which provides clearer boundaries and better aligns with Markdown's core philosophy of being easy to implement and author.