We present a method for off-line mathematical formulae recognition based on the structural construction paradigm and two-dimensional grammars. In general, this approach can be successfully used in the analysis of images contain- ing objects that exhibit rich structural relations. An impor- tant benefit of the structural construction is in treating the symbol segmentation in the image and its structural analy- sis as a single intertwined process. This allows the system to avoid errors usually appearing during the segmentation phase. We have developed and tested a pilot study proving that the method is computationally efficient, practical and able to cope with noise.