1. An application for a computer system, the application comprising: an input module programmed to accept input of a mathematical expression; a builddown module programmed to builddown the mathematical expression from a two-dimensional format to a linear format, wherein the builddown module is programmed to associate a special property of the two-dimensional format of the mathematical expression with a corresponding character of the linear format of the mathematical expression; and a formatting module programmed to format the mathematical expression upon building the mathematical expression back up from the linear format to the two-dimensional format, wherein the formatting module is programmed to apply the special property to the two-dimensional format.