diff --git a/src/EquationTags.cc b/src/EquationTags.cc
index c55fff0eed2357be86a6fdec356a3a589cbb64b0..063db7974bbc9343fab28b5bd15637568d5ef949 100644
--- a/src/EquationTags.cc
+++ b/src/EquationTags.cc
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ EquationTags::writeOutput(ostream &output) const
 void
 EquationTags::writeLatexOutput(ostream &output, int eqn) const
 {
-  if (!exists(eqn))
+  if (!eqn_tags.contains(eqn))
     return;
 
   auto escape_special_latex_symbols = [](string str)
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ EquationTags::writeLatexOutput(ostream &output, int eqn) const
 void
 EquationTags::writeJsonAST(ostream &output, int eqn) const
 {
-  if (!exists(eqn))
+  if (!eqn_tags.contains(eqn))
     return;
 
   output << R"(, "tags": {)";
diff --git a/src/EquationTags.hh b/src/EquationTags.hh
index 1eb74a8b03e13b97427e26d8aafa6b026b29ddfc..9ac418bddfb85659fd9692d22c1eaeca53a46d4b 100644
--- a/src/EquationTags.hh
+++ b/src/EquationTags.hh
@@ -103,12 +103,6 @@ public:
     return getEqnByTag(key, value).has_value();
   }
 
-  bool
-  exists(int eqn) const
-  {
-    return eqn_tags.contains(eqn);
-  }
-
   //! Returns true if equation tag with key exists for a given equation
   bool
   exists(int eqn, const string &key) const