Numerals Obsidian Plugin

Numerals gives you the power of an advanced calculator inside a math code block, complete with currencies, units, variables, and math functions! Now you can perform calculations inline with your notes, and see both the input and the evaluated result. Numerals works with Live Preview as well as Reader view, and offers TeX-style rendering or Syntax Highlighting as well as auto-completion suggestions. Comments or explanations can be added with #, and important results can be indicated with => after the calculation.

To get started, simply install and enable the plugin. Add a math code block with your desired calculations:

```math
20 mi / 4 hr to m/s
```

Features

• Units
  • 1ft + 12in → 2ft
  • 20 mi / 4 hr to m/s → 2.235 m / s
  • 100 km/hr in mi/hr → 62.137 mi / hr
  • 9.81 m/s^2 * 100 kg * 40 m → 39.24 kJ
• Currency
  • $1,000 * 2 → 2,000 USD
  • £10 + £0.75 → 10.75 GBP
  • $100/hr * 3days → 7,200 USD
  • Set custom currencies, for example ₿
• Math functions
  • sqrt, sin, cos, abs, log, etc (see mathjs for full list)
• Hex, Binary, Octal, and other bases
  • 0xff + 0b100 → 259
  • hex(0xff + 0b100) → "0x103"
• Natural Constants
  • e, i, pi, speedOfLight, gravitationConstant, vacuumImpedance, avogadro
  • And many more (see mathjs: Constants and mathjs: Units for more)
• Auto-complete suggestions
  • By default will offer auto-complete suggestions for any variables defined in a math codeblock being edited
  • Optional setting to include all available functions, constants, and physical constants
• Totals of previous lines using @total or @sum special operator
  • When Numerals encounters @total or @sum it inserts the sum of all previous lines up until the last blank line or comment
• Previous result
  • Use previous line result in current calculation with @prev
• Greek Letters
  • Variables can be named using greek letters, e.g. μ = 3 m/s
  • Greek letters can be auto-completed by typing :, e.g. :mu in a math block will offer μ as an auto-complete suggestion
• Note-Global Variables
  • Any variable name or function definition preceeded by an $ symbol will be made available to all math blocks on a page
• Fractions:
  • fraction(1/3) + fraction(1/4) → 7/12
• Comments and Headings:
  • # at the end of a line will be ignored, but rendered in faint text as a comment
  • A line starting with # will be ignored by the math engine, but will be bolded when rendered
• Result Annotation:
  • => at the end of a line (but before a comment) will tell Numerals that a result should be highlighted. Any line in that code block without a => annotation will be rendered faintly (or hidden depending on settings).
• Result Insertion:
  • Using the @[...] syntax (for example: @[profit]), Numerals will insert the results of a calculation into the raw text of your note, following ::
  • Uses dataview notation, which allows writing back to dataview values. For example, @[profit] will be modified to say @[profit::10 USD]
• Access Frontmatter Properties
  • Numerals math blocks will have access to any property name specified in the numerals: property. Setting numerals to all, will make all properties in a note available to Numerals
  • Multiple properties can be specified as a list, e.g. numerals: [apples, pears] will makes both the apples and pears property available to Numerals
  • Any property in the YAML frontmatter beginning with $ automatically becomes a note-global variable (or function) accessible in every math block on the page
  • Functions can be defined in YAML by name along with their arguments, e.g. $f(x): x+2
• Cross-note references
  • Reference frontmatter and Dataview metadata from other notes using [[note name]].property, including nested values like [[config]].rates.hourly
  • Works in math blocks and inline calculations, and updates when referenced note metadata changes

Numerals utilizes the mathjs library for all calculations. Numerals implements a preprocessor to allow more human-friendly syntax, such as currency symbols and thousands separators. For all available functions and capabilities (which includes matrices, vectors, symbolic algebra and calculus, etc), see the mathjs documentation

Styling Options

Numerals has been tested with the default theme and most other top themes. It uses default values such that it should play nice with any other theme. There are also several configurable settings to modify how Numerals renders math blocks

Render Style

Numerals supports rendering inputs/ouputs as either:

1. Plain Text
2. TeX
3. Syntax Highlighting

One of these options can either be chosen as a default from Numerals settings, or then can be applied on a per-block basis by using math-plain, math-tex, or math-highlight rather than a math code block.

Layout

2-panes

• Answer is shown to the right of the input with a background color and a separator.
• Distinctive style that separates input from evaluated answers

Answer to the Right

• Answer to the right: answer is shown in the same line as the input, but right-aligned
• More subtle than 2-panes that works well with just a few calculations

Answer Below

• Answer is shown below the input, on the next line.
• Less compact vertically, but more compact horizontally

Alternating Row Colors

Choose between a consistent code block background color (left), or alternating rows to help track from input to result (right).

Auto-completion Suggestions

By default, Numerals will provide auto-completion suggestions for variables that have been defined in a particular math codeblock. Turning on Include Functions and Constants in Suggestions will also provide suggestions for all functions, math constants, and physical constants supported in Numerals.

Format of Numbers in Rendered Results

Numerals allows the user to specify the format of rendered results.

• System Formatted (Default): Use your local system settings for number formatting (including thousands and decimal separator)
• Fixed: No thousands separator and full precision. Period as decimal separator (e.g. 100000.1)
• Exponential: Always use exponential notation. (e.g. 1.000001e5)
• Engineering: Exponential notation with exponent a multiple of 3. (e.g. 100.0001e3)
• Formatted: Forces a specific type of formatted notation.
  • Style 1: 100,000.1
  • Style 2: 100.000,1
  • Style 3: 100 000,1
  • Style 4: 1,00,000.1

Installation

Numerals can be found in the Obsidian community plugin list.

Using BRAT

To try the latest features of Numerals before they are released, and provide helpful feedback and testing, try Numerals by using the Obsidian BRAT plugin. All new Numerals features will be pushed to beta testers first.

1. Ensure BRAT is installed
2. Trigger the command Obsidian42 - BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing
3. Enter this repository, gtg922r/obsidian-numerals
4. Activate Numerals plugin in community plugin list

Features in progress and roadmap

• Support for mapping currency symbols to different currencies (#17) both $ and ¥ can be mapped to different currencies in settings
• Style Settings support for all colors and other style options (#13)
  • Partial support added in 1.0.5
• Result annotation, similar to Calca feature (#4)
  • Support added in 1.0.5
• Autocompletion of functions and variable inside math code block (#15)
  • Support added in 1.0.8
• Inline calculation for inline code blocks (#5)

Feel free to suggest additional features by creating an issue!

Development

Numerals uses a three-stage development workflow: Version → Build → Release

1. Version Management

Update the version number in package.json:

npm run version:patch    # 1.5.1 → 1.5.2
npm run version:minor    # 1.5.1 → 1.6.0  
npm run version:major    # 1.5.1 → 2.0.0
npm run version          # defaults to patch

These commands only update the version in package.json and do not sync to manifests or create releases.

2. Build

Compile the TypeScript and bundle the plugin:

npm run build            # Build for production
npm run dev              # Build for development with watch mode

The build command compiles TypeScript and creates the main.js file that Obsidian loads.

Mathjs Symbol Suggestions

Auto-complete suggestions for mathjs functions and constants are kept as a static list in src/mathjsUtilities.ts. When upgrading mathjs, run npm run symbols:check to compare that list against the installed mathjs documentation metadata.

If the check finds intentional changes, run npm run symbols:update, review the generated diff, and adjust the explicit exclusions in scripts/mathjs-symbols.ts for any documented symbols that should not appear in Numerals suggestions.

3. Release

Create tagged releases that trigger automated GitHub Actions:

Beta Releases

npm run release:beta

• Creates a timestamped beta version (e.g., 1.5.1-beta.2024-01-15T10-30-00)
• Updates manifest-beta.json with the beta version
• Builds the project
• Creates a git tag and pushes it to trigger GitHub Actions
• Automatically creates a beta release on GitHub

Production Releases

npm run release:production    # Full command
npm run release              # Shortcut for production

• Uses the current version from package.json
• Updates manifest.json and versions.json
• Builds the project
• Creates a git tag and pushes it to trigger GitHub Actions
• Automatically creates a production release on GitHub

Complete Development Workflow

1. Make changes to the codebase
2. Test locally with npm run dev
3. Increment version: npm run version:patch (or minor/major)
4. Test with beta release: npm run release:beta
5. Create production release: npm run release

The release scripts handle all manifest syncing, building, tagging, and triggering GitHub Actions for automated release publishing.

Related

There are a number of other plugins that address math and calculation use cases in Obsidian.

• If you are primarily interested in evaluating math expressions and inserting the result into your notes, look into meld-cp/obsidian-calc
• If you are looking for a full-featured Computer Algebra System including plots and with similar code block rendering, consider Canna71/obsidian-mathpad: Computer Algebra System (CAS) for Obsidian.md

There are also a number of "calculator as notes" apps that acted as the inspiration for Numerals. If you are looking for a purpose-built app outside of Obsidian, consider:

• Numi. Beautiful calculator app for Mac.
• Numbr
• Soulver 3 - Notepad Calculator App for Mac