Images and Figures
Where do the figure, its caption and surrounding text belong?
✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §12.1.2 in the RFC ↗
The output MUST NOT contain an image reference  or a bracketed placeholder
such as [The image shows…]. A figure's content MUST be rendered as text, a table or a
diagram — whichever the figure actually is.
When it applies
An output is consumed by a model or an extraction step. An image reference is a dead end to both; the content has to be in the text stream.
Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.
The point, in a small example
Integrate a figure into the page: preserve surrounding prose, its caption, internal structure and mathematical content. For the basic choice between text, table, chart, diagram and artwork, see Images. These pages are made up to isolate the rule.
A diagram stays between its surrounding paragraphs
Keep reading order: paragraph, diagram, caption, paragraph. The printed caption is ordinary adjacent text, not a new document heading. Do not move the figure to the end or replace it with a filename.
Source page
Expected output
Before the process, register.
```diagram/mermaid
flowchart LR
A[Receive] --> B[Review]
```
Figure 1. Intake workflow
After review, send a receipt.An inset can contain a heading and a table
In this document the printed Safety note is a level-2 section heading. The inset background does not turn its contents into a Markdown block quote. Preserve the heading, paragraph and table without > prefixes.
Source page
Expected output
## Safety note
Keep dry.
<table>
<tr><th>Item</th><th>Limit</th></tr>
<tr><td>Crates</td><td>3</td></tr>
</table>An equation inside a sentence
This is mathematical notation, so encode the equation as LaTeX with double-dollar delimiters, even inside a sentence.
Source page
Non-conforming output
What the rule rules out.
The energy is $E = mc^2$.Expected output
The energy is $$E = mc^{2}$$.Choosing the form
| The figure is really… | Rendering |
|---|---|
| A data display (chart, plot) | A chart table — Cover Every Data Point (§11.1.1) |
| A graph of relationships | A diagram/<language> fenced block (for example diagram/mermaid or diagram/plantUml) — Diagrams and Flowcharts (§12.2.2) |
| A labelled schematic | A suitable diagram/<language> block; description only if none can preserve it — Slide Diagrams (§12.2.5) |
| A photo or decorative art | A prose description of what it shows |
| Text rendered as an image | The text, transcribed |
Equations
Equations MUST be LaTeX in $$ … $$, inline ones included — see Inline Equations (§7.2.6). Using $$
uniformly keeps a stray currency symbol elsewhere on the page from opening an unterminated math
span.
Multi-column pages
Multi-column text MUST be unrolled into a single column in reading order. The physical column split is a typesetting artefact, not structure, and MUST NOT be preserved — see Reading Order (§5.9).
Neighbouring rules, and how they differ
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Rule id images-images-and-figures · rule diagrams images