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In @GabeK's nice answer to @JonBannon's question Each mathematician has only a few tricks, there is unexpected space at the beginning of the third paragraph:

@GabeK's answer with spurious space

My first thought was that there might be a macro definition or something at the beginning of the third paragraph, so I opened up the edit window to see. Not only is there nothing obvious in the source to cause this extra space, but also it goes away when editing:

@GabeK's answer while editing

I see this on both Firefox and Safari, using the HTML-CSS renderer. Why?

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    $\begingroup$ The line immediately preceding "The named..." has a single space in it. Apparently, this causes this space to be rendered. The editor may be using the newer or different Markdown renderer, for example, which is why you cannot see this space during editing. $\endgroup$
    – Dmitri Pavlov
    Commented Jul 13, 2022 at 21:46
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    $\begingroup$ I will just add that the character mentioned in the previous comment seems to be Non-breaking space. In case it is useful, you might check what you get for that post from the Posts table and from the PostHistory table. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 11:41
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, @DmitriPavlov! That seems to be an answer, so, if you'd post it, then I'd be happy to accept it. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 15:21
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, @MartinSleziak! I'm not sure how to use the Posts table and the PostHistory table. When I click the links you have supplied, I see one row of a table returned from a query, including the partial rendered HTML of the post, and clicking on the link takes me to the post. How should I extract more information (e.g., the full rendered HTML)? $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 15:22
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    $\begingroup$ @LSpice You can simply ignore those queries if they are of no use for you. In any case, I left a few short messages in chat - feel free to ping me there if some additional explanation could help. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 15:36
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak, thanks! I in no way meant to imply that the queries weren't useful, only that I didn't know how to use them, but your chat messages addressed that. $\endgroup$
    – LSpice
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 15:52

1 Answer 1

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The line immediately preceding "The named..." has a single non-breaking space in it, which is preserved in the output.

The editor may be using a differently configured Markdown renderer, for example, which is why you cannot see this space during editing.

Depending on your point of view, this could be considered a bug in the editor and/or the Markdown parser.

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