diff --git a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/OpenXMLDocument.java b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/OpenXMLDocument.java
index 1d49d53e9d19a7305163eabe38440ee2caa287f5..6ba0feaf97dda6ee47f0458cf0b79b5ea6a086f7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/OpenXMLDocument.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/olat/core/util/openxml/OpenXMLDocument.java
@@ -1018,6 +1018,11 @@ public class OpenXMLDocument {
 	public List<Node> convertLaTeX(String latex) {
 		List<Node> mathEls = new ArrayList<>();
 		try {
+			// place the latex marker if needed
+			if(!latex.startsWith("\\(") && !latex.startsWith("\\[") && !latex.startsWith("$")) {
+				latex = "$" + latex + "$";
+			}
+			
 			//convert latex -> mathml
 			String mathml = ConvertFromLatexToMathML.convertToMathML(latex);