How can I pretty print in IPython Notebook via SymPy?

Question

I tried pprint and print. The former only prints the Unicode version, and the latter doesn't do pretty prints.

from sympy import symbols, Function import sympy.functions as sym from sympy import init_printing init_printing(use_latex=True) from sympy import pprint from sympy import Symbol x = Symbol('x') # If a cell contains only the following, it will render perfectly. (pi + x)**2 # However, I would like to control what to print in a function, # so that multiple expressions can be printed from a single notebook cell. pprint((pi + x)**2)

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-13 20:37:41Z

95

You need to use display():

from IPython.display import display display(yourobject)

It will choose the appropriate representation (text, LaTex, PNG, etc.). In a recent-enough version of IPython (6.0+), display() is imported by default, but still we recommend to explicitly import it.

edited Sep 13 at 20:37

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 8, 2014 at 10:55

Just M

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3 Comments

asmeurer Over a year ago

It should be pointed out that you still need to call init_printing for this to work, as that's what registers the LaTeX display for SymPy objects.

mmj Over a year ago

Is there a way to limit the width of output? I tried with display(expr, width=1000) without success.

user202729 2 days ago

Link to documentation: ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/api/generated/… . It may be useful to add this to the answer itself.

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2025-09-13 20:46:05Z

The issue is with your init_printing statement. In a notebook, you do not want to run LaTeX. Instead, you should use MathJax, so try this instead:

init_printing(use_latex='mathjax')

When I use this, I get normal pretty printing everywhere, even when I have a SymPy expression as the last line of the cell.

Why would you not want to run latex in a notebook? This suggestion prints the unicode prettyprint for me as well. What versions of ipython and sympy are you using? Could be related to the issue mentioned at stackoverflow.com/questions/32010945/…

Tomáš Létal · Accepted Answer · 2025-07-19 21:06:16Z

I have asked a similar question (now linked to this one). After reading the answers and tinkering a bit, I conclude that there are 3 types of output one can get:

"Not pretty", pure text... "low quality". This is what one obtains with print(expression)
Pretty, pure text... "medium quality". This is what one obtains with
```
 import sympy as sym sym.pprint(expression) 
```

It still uses the same font and uses only characters to put together the mathematical expression. But it can, e.g., raise numbers for powers, pull fractions by laying out the horizontal line, etc.

Pretty, with graphics, symbols, etc... "high quality". This is what one obtains with
```
 import IPython.display as disp disp.display(expression) 
```

This is the same as what one obtains as an output of the notebook cell, but now as a result of a command. Then, one can have multiple such outputs from a single notebook cell.

It is worth noting that:

sym.init_printing(... affects the output of sym.pprint.
sym.latex(expression) produces a LaTeX string for the expression. disp.Math(... produces the expression from LaTeX. These two may come in useful. Thus, disp.display(disp.Math(sym.latex(expression))) would produce the same output as disp.display(expression).

I appreciate your in-depth review of possibilities and their differences. Much better than "use x method" without explaining the ins and outs of the method. For those using Jupyter notebook, display will be available without importing it and can be used like this: display(expression) directly.

acesaif · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-22 04:34:38Z

This works,

from IPython.display import display, Latex from sympy import * x = symbols('x') display(x) int_x = Integral(cos(x)*exp(x), x) result = "$${} = {}$$".format(latex(int_x), latex(int_x.doit())) display(Latex(result)) derv_x = Derivative(cos(x)*exp(x), x) result = "$${} = {}$$".format(latex(derv_x), latex(derv_x.doit())) display(Latex(result))

try it for yourself.

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