diff --git a/src/commands/math/basicSymbols.js b/src/commands/math/basicSymbols.js
index 4fc0671..49198a4 100644
--- a/src/commands/math/basicSymbols.js
+++ b/src/commands/math/basicSymbols.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
         text = text.slice(1, text.length);
       }
       else if (text[text.length-1] == ' ') {
-        text = text.slice (0, text.length-1);
+        text = text.slice (0, -1);
       }
     } else {
       if (this[L] && !(this[L] instanceof Variable)
diff --git a/test/unit/autoOperatorNames.test.js b/test/unit/autoOperatorNames.test.js
index eb7c21c..05ea189 100644
--- a/test/unit/autoOperatorNames.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/autoOperatorNames.test.js
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@
     );
   }
 
+  function assertText(input, expected) {
+    var result = mq.text();
+    assert.equal(result, expected,
+      input+', got \''+result+'\', expected \''+expected+'\''
+    );
+  }
+
   test('simple LaTeX parsing, typing', function() {
     function assertAutoOperatorNamesWork(str, latex) {
       var count = 0;
@@ -47,6 +54,16 @@
     assertAutoOperatorNamesWork('scscscscscsc', 's\\csc s\\csc s\\csc');
   });
 
+  test('text() output', function(){
+    function assertTranslatedCorrectly(latexStr, text) {
+      mq.latex(latexStr);
+      assertText('outputting ' + latexStr, text);
+    }
+
+    assertTranslatedCorrectly('\\sin', 'sin');
+    assertTranslatedCorrectly('\\sin\\left(xy\\right)', 'sin(x*y)');
+  });
+
   test('deleting', function() {
     var count = 0;
     var _autoUnItalicize = Letter.prototype.autoUnItalicize;