Help:FAQ/Technical questions/Can't get a maintenance template to register my parameter

Can't get a maintenance template to register my parameter

"I am trying to (for example) get the "explain" template to show:

{{explain|Why does $a = b$?}}

... but when it appears on the page, the "Why does $a = b$?" bit does not show."

This is because the MediaWiki template parser takes precedence over the MathJax one, and interprets your $=$ sign as being part of a parameter invocation. That is, it thinks that Why does $a is the name of the parameter being passed to the {{Explain}} template and that b$? is its value.

In order to get round this, the {{=}} template was developed, which allows you to put the $=$ sign into an invocation of the template, like so:

{{explain|Why does $a {{=}} b$?}}

This should fix it.

--prime mover (talk) 08:58, 8 March 2013 (UTC)