Backslashes are auto-removed while inserting LaTeX formulas to MySQL with PHP

Question

I'm writing simple math question generating program in PHP. There are users who add questions, and users who can examine themselves. For the questions with math formulas I am using LaTeX. But after inserting formula to MySQL database backslashes are removed and formula becomes unusable. Here is example of LaTeX formula:

\[
  \mathbf{V}_1 \times \mathbf{V}_2 =
   \begin{vmatrix}
    \mathbf{i} & \mathbf{j} & \mathbf{k} \\
    \frac{\partial X}{\partial u} & \frac{\partial Y}{\partial u} & 0 \\
    \frac{\partial X}{\partial v} & \frac{\partial Y}{\partial v} & 0 \\
   \end{vmatrix}
\]

And same formula after insertion to database:

[
  mathbf{V}_1   imes mathbf{V}_2 =
   egin{vmatrix}
    mathbf{i} & mathbf{j} & mathbf{k} 
    frac{partial X}{partial u} & frac{partial Y}{partial u} & 0 
    frac{partial X}{partial v} & frac{partial Y}{partial v} & 0 
   end{vmatrix}
]

And how this formula shown after being rendered :

How can I prevent auto removing of backslashes?

Answer 1

I've tried this function in php before inserting the string containing LaTeX formula and it works:

$question_with_latex = mysql_real_escape_string($question_with_latex);