I know pandoc is not the Org reference implementation, but digging into this further I noticed that pandoc exports a^{b} from Org to LaTeX the way I expected/hoped Org would:
$ echo "a^{b}" | pandoc -f Org -t latex a\textsuperscript{b} -k. On 2018-12-17 at 14:21 -0800, Ken Mankoff <mank...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > This file: > > Math mode: a\(^{b}\) > Non-math mode: a^{b} > What I'd like: a\textsuperscript{b} > > Is exported to this LaTeX code: > > Math mode: a\(^{b}\) > Non-math mode: a\(^{\text{b}}\) > What I'd like: a\textsuperscript{b} > > > When viewing a PDF from that LaTeX source, the first (Math mode) appears > correct. The second (non-math) appears correct in the PDF, but I'm not sure > it is in the LaTeX source. The third looks correct. > > > A more severe end-product appearance issue comes downstream. I find Pandoc > generates better ODT and DOCX files than Org when the inputs are complicated. > When viewing a DOCX generated from the above LaTeX with: > > $ pandoc -f LaTeX -i foo.tex -t DOCX -o foo.docx foo.tex > > there is a more serious issue: The b power is not attached to the a, so there > is an empty box and it looks like this (where ^b is actually raised as a > superscript): a[]^b. Or see attached screenshot. > > I've tried toggling #+OPTIONS ^:{} and ^:nil but it doesn't solve this. It > seems to me like a^b should export as a\textsuperscript{b}. Do others agree? > Or is this a pandoc bug I should be raising in that project? > > Thanks, > > -k.