How to insert mathematical symbols in emacs

Question

I'm writing an Asciidoctor file to take notes for statistics and would like to insert mathematical symbols like β.

Is there any way to do this without copy and pasting?

Answer 1

You can set the insert method with M-x set-input-method RET tex. Then type \beta and watch it get converted.

It can be toggled and set with C-\!

Tested and confirmed that it compiles and renders properly using asciidoctor-pdf.

In Use:

Answer 2

I love the accepted answer, but I also wanted to point out that you can insert unicode characters by name using C-x 8 RET. This will bring up a selection list in the minibuffer that lets you type the name of a unicode character to insert.

I use counsel-mode, so the search is quite nice because you can type chunks of words, in any order, to narrow down the matching list of unicode characters. It's sort of klunky for general use, but if you really need one specific unicode character, it works pretty well.