0.1 Preparing for writing mathml  (Page 3/3)

6: "File Conversion" dialog box appears as shown below. Select the radio button “Other encoding”; Select “Unicode(UTF-8)” option as shown. Click “OK” button. Save the document to the folder you have created for the tutorial.

7: Using “My Computer” or Window Explorer go to the tutorial folder, where you saved the document in earlier step. Select the file and right click the mouse. Select the option “open with”.

8: If MathML compatible browser is not in the list, select “Choose program” and include the browser that you have downloaded for the purpose. The executable file of the MathML compatible browser must be in the “Program files” folder on your desktop.

9: The mathML code is implemented by the browser as shown below :

$$\mathbf{v}=\frac{\mathbf{AB}}{t}$$

This completes the basic of creating a “xml” document to implement MathML codes. Subsequently, when you are satisfied by the implementation, you may copy the MathML code lines and paste the same in the document to be published.

Context of mathml

Presentation of mathematical content has been a problem for text editors and web renderers, owing largely to the requirement of (i) arrangement of characters and symbols of different sizes (ii) their staggered alignment and (iii) overall structural arrangement different form normal text. As a consequence, MathML markup has been developed to address the needs of the web authors, overcoming these requirements.

The marking up of MathML tags, however, itself is inherently a lengthy and error prone proposition, requiring frequent and repeated testing in order to compose a “well formed” mark up code. A simple notation such as $x^{10}$ may require 6 lines of coding with strict adherence to the syntax and grammar of the mark up language.

Indeed, development of MathML is not targeted for direct use. In the language of Web Consortium (W3C) “……….. Instead, it is anticipated that authors will use equation editors, conversion programs, and other specialized software tools to generate MathML. Alternatively, some renderers and systems supporting mathematics may convert other kinds of input directly included in Web pages into MathML on the fly, in response to a cut-and-paste operation…….”.

Though, using tailored software is the easiest way around, but a general understanding of the mathML mark up language may let you grasp the environment of mathematical content publication and at the same time let you be independent of the individual software adaptation issues; while simultaneously letting you continue with developing codes in an organized and efficient manner. If you adapt well to the MathML, there is every chance that you might not use a specialized tool at all.

General features of mathml coding

1: MathML tries to capture the requirement of both presentation and content (meaning) of mathmatical expression. Take the example of trigonometric function “sin x”. Simply stated it is an identifier “sin” and a character “x”, which are separated by a white space. From the perspective of mathematics, however, “sin” is a function, which operates on an operand “x”. The two aspects are different when perceived from the angle of presentation and interpretation. MathML provides coding frame work for both these aspects through two different sets of mark-up called “Presentation” and “Content” mark-ups. As pointed out earlier, we would, however, be limited to the presentation mark-up.

2: MathML elements are preceded with “m:”, specifying the namespace for implementing the codes by the renderers i.e. browsers. A namespace associates a unique global identifier (usually a URL) with a particular set of tags and their usage rules.

3: MathML coding is case sensitive. Mostly, it is lower case coding, unless stated otherwise.

4: MathML markup adheres to the HTML markup structure. Most elements begin with a start tag and end with an end tag. Example :</m:mi>a</m:mi>. Ofcourse, there are also few empty tags.

5: MathML implementation is very touchy about the syntax and structure. A start tag must always be closed by an end tag. There are few varieties in the manner they are closed, but then they all must be closed. Empty elements, for example, are closed in the beginning itself.

6: There is no white space allowed between enclosing angles of a tag. The code parser i.e. the browser would not accept a space inside the angles of the tag like<mi>. It should be written without white space as<mi>.