Three tutorials that will provide attendees with detailed information on the usage of MathML and OpenMath are being offered on Friday, June 28. An introductory MathML tutorial will be given Friday morning, an OpenMath tutorial will be given at midday, and an advanced MathML tutorial will be given Friday afternoon. You can attend all three tutorials if you wish.
Note: The number of seats available for the tutorials is limited. Please sign up early if you wish to attend any of the tutorials.
Introduction to Using MathML
Speakers: Robert Miner and Bob Mathews, Design Science, Inc.
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
This tutorial will cover what you need to know to author and publish a web page containing MathML. There will be some general discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of MathML compared to other techniques for communicating mathematics, but the main focus will be practical.
We will go over important MathML concepts and learn enough to hand-code a simple equation such as x + y. Then we will look at options for display in web pages and will conclude with authoring software. During the course of the tutorial, participants will use several software tools to create and view web pages containing mathematical notation.
For the best experience, participants should be comfortable with web concepts and have some knowledge of authoring web pages. Prior knowledge of MathML is not required. That's the whole point of the tutorial!
MathML Basics
- MathML and XML
- Presentation and content markup
- Tokens, general layout, scripts, tables, and actions
- Functions, operators, and symbols
- The <math> tag
- Putting it all together
Display in Browsers
- DOCTYPEs, MIME types, and other magic incantations
- MathPlayer and Internet Explorer
- Mozilla
- IBM techexplorer
- WebEQ
- Universal Math Stylesheet
Authoring Software
- MathType and Word
- WebEQ
- TeX4ht
- Maple and Mathematica
- Amaya
Content Markup in OpenMath and MathML
Speaker: Michael Kohlhase, Carnegie Mellon University
Time: 12:00 noon - 3:00 p.m.
In this tutorial, we will cover the state-of-the-art markup techniques for the content of mathematical objects and knowledge.
While presentation markup allows for flexible and high-quality rendering of mathematical formulas in browsers, content markup aims to simplify the recovery of the meaning of the mathematical objects in software systems. Based on this, these systems can offer added-value services such as:
- Evaluation and simplification--for example, in computer algebra systems
- Checking--for example, by automated theorem provers
- Personalization--for example, in education systems
- Re-use--for example, in mathematical knowledge base systems
The tutorial is addressed at developers and users of content-based mathematical software systems. It presupposes general knowledge about MathML and XML and of mathematics in general; the introductory MathML tutorial is fully sufficient. No specialized knowledge of specific mathematical software systems or specific areas of mathematics is needed.
This two-part tutorial will consist of both theory and practice.
Theory
We will discuss the closely related OpenMath (OM) and Content MathML (CMML) approaches to content markup, in particular:
- Content MathML for K-14 mathematics
- OpenMath as an extensible markup scheme
- OpenMath Content Dictionaries (CDs) for semantics by reference
- Alternatives to CDs
Practice
We will present mathematical software systems using OM and CMML for communication, in particular:
- Migration tools from legacy formats to OM and CMML
- Transformation between OM and CMML
- Mathematical content editors
- Added-value services based on OM and CMML
Using MathML for Client/Server Computations
Speaker: Laurent Bernardin, Waterloo Maple Inc.
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
In this tutorial we will look at how MathML can be used to enable the delivery of active mathematical content over the web. We will provide an overview of existing technologies for connecting web browsers as well as lightweight clients to a computational engine. We will also look at future directions involving web services; SOAP, WSDL, and other emerging protocols will be discussed.
During the hands-on section of this tutorial, attendees will have the opportunity to create their own examples of "live" mathematical content on the web. The first example worked through will involve using a combination of MathML, HTML, Java applets, WebEQ, servlets, and the Maple engine to produce an online homework assignment that allows a student to explore the problem and submit a solution through a web browser. The submission is graded on the server, and the results are sent back to the student. The second example in the hands-on section will be concerned with creating and setting up a mathematical web service and connecting to it via SOAP, using a client application. Both examples are generic in the sense that the same techniques can be applied in a variety of different contexts.
The intended audience includes anyone with an interest in producing or working with interactive mathematical content. In order to benefit fully from this tutorial, attendees should have a basic understanding of web protocols such as HTML and should also have some programming skills. The goal of the tutorial is to convey an overview of existing and upcoming MathML-related technologies and to provide a glimpse at the potential of combining these technologies to deliver interactive mathematical content in new ways.