Error when rendering reference to equation at the beginning of a paragraph

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

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Steps to reproduce

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Actual behavior

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Expected behavior

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Your environment

• IDE: RStudio 2026.05.0+218
• OS: MS Windows 11 Pro

There seems to be an error when rendering a reference to an equation at the beginning of a paragraph. The reference, rendered as e.g. "(1)" seems to be interpreted as a numbered list, thus giving:

$$
  x = 0
$$ {#eq-equation}

(@eq-equation) does not render properly.

However, (@eq-equation) does.

Moreover, it seems to change the default values of the reference parameterization, e.g., it dros the link to the equation and the "Equation " preffix. The following document:

$$
  x = 0
$$ {#eq-equation}

Equation (@eq-equation) does not render properly.

However, (@eq-equation) does.

renders to the expected result:

Quarto check output

Quarto 1.9.37
[>] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: C:\Users\Daniel Morillo\AppData\Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.8.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.4.5: OK
      Typst version 0.14.2: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.9.37
      Path: C:\Program Files\Quarto\bin
      CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (external install)
      Chromium: (not installed)
      Chrome Headless Shell: (not installed)
      VeraPDF: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: C:\ProgramData\TinyTeX\bin\windows\
      Version: 2024

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Using: Chrome found on system
      Path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
      Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.5.1
      Path: C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-45~1.1
      LibPaths:
        - C:/Users/Daniel Morillo/Documents/Workspace/CaMMTRIP-models/renv/library/windows/R-4.5/x86_64-w64-mingw32
        - C:/Users/Daniel Morillo/AppData/Local/R/cache/R/renv/sandbox/windows/R-4.5/x86_64-w64-mingw32/0eea1ca5
      knitr: 1.51
      rmarkdown: 2.31

[>] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.14.2
      Path: C:/Users/Daniel Morillo/AppData/Local/Python/pythoncore-3.14-64/python.exe
      Jupyter: (None)

      Jupyter is not available in this Python installation.
      Install with py -m pip install jupyter

[>] Checking Julia installation...

Start by rendering the minimal Quarto example from the issue and compare a reference at the beginning of a paragraph with one preceded by “Equation”. Trace the equation-reference rendering path and add a regression test for the first form. Done means the reference is not treated as a numbered list and preserves the equation link and prefix.