diff --git a/docs/source/cost_functions.rst b/docs/source/cost_functions.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d49969a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/cost_functions.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+.. Copyright 2018 The Cartographer Authors
+
+.. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+..      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+
+==============
+Cost functions
+==============
+
+Relative Transform Error 2D
+===========================
+
+Given two poses
+:math:`\mathbf{p_i} = [\mathbf{x_i}; \theta_i] = [x_i, y_i, \theta_i]^T`
+and :math:`\mathbf{p_j} = [\mathbf{x_j}; \theta_j] = [x_j, y_j, \theta_j]^T`
+the transformation :math:`\mathbf T` from the coordinate frame :math:`j` to the
+coordinate frame :math:`i` has the following form
+
+.. math::
+ \mathbf{T}( \mathbf{p_i},\mathbf{p_j}) =
+ \left[
+   \begin{array}{c}
+        R(\theta_i)^T (\mathbf x_j - \mathbf x_i) \\
+        \theta_j-\theta_i
+   \end{array}
+ \right]
+
+where :math:`R(\theta_i)^T` is the rotation matrix of :math:`\theta_i`.
+
+The weighted error :math:`f:\mathbb R^6 \mapsto \mathbb R^3` between
+:math:`\mathbf T` and the measured transformation :math:`\mathbf T_{ij}^m =
+[\mathbf x_{ij}^m; \theta_j^m]` from the coordinate frame :math:`j` to the
+coordinate frame :math:`i` can be computed as
+
+.. math::
+ \mathbf f( \mathbf{p_i},\mathbf{p_j}) =
+ \left[
+   w_{\text{t}} \; w_{\text{r}}
+ \right]
+ \left(
+   \mathbf T_{ij}^m - \mathbf T( \mathbf{p_i},\mathbf{p_j})
+ \right) =
+ \left[
+   \begin{array}{c}
+      w_{\text{t}}\left(
+        \mathbf x_{ij}^m - R(\theta_i)^T (\mathbf x_j - \mathbf x_i)
+      \right) \\
+      w_{\text{r}}\left(
+        \mathrm{clamp}(\theta_{ij}^m - (\theta_j-\theta_i))
+      \right)
+   \end{array}
+ \right]
+
+where :math:`w_t` and :math:`w_r` are weights for translation and rotation
+respectively and :math:`\mathrm{clamp}: \mathbb R \mapsto [-\pi, \pi]`
+normalizes the angle difference.
+
+Jacobian matrix  :math:`J_f` is given by:
+
+.. math::
+ \begin{align}
+   J_f( \mathbf{p_i},\mathbf{p_j}) &=
+   \left[
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial x_i} \quad
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial y_i} \quad
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial \theta_i} \quad
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial x_j} \quad
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial y_j} \quad
+     \frac{\partial\mathbf f}{\partial \theta_j}
+   \right] \\
+   &\mathstrut \\
+   &=
+   \left[
+     \begin{array}{cccc}
+         w_{\text{t}} R^T(\theta_i)
+           & -w_{\text{t}} {\frac{\mathrm d R^T(\theta_i)}{\mathrm d \theta}}(\mathbf x_j - \mathbf x_i)
+           & -w_{\text{t}} R^T(\theta_i)
+           & \mathbf{0} \\
+        \mathbf{0}^T
+         & w_{\text{r}}
+         & \mathbf{0}^T
+         & -w_{\text{r}}
+     \end{array}
+   \right]
+ \end{align}
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
index 56d7458..052bcb9 100644
--- a/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Cartographer
    configuration
    evaluation
    terminology
+   cost_functions
 
 `Cartographer`_ is a system that provides real-time simultaneous localization
 and mapping (`SLAM`_) in 2D and 3D across multiple platforms and sensor