26 February 2011, 22:47

I am exploring how to include mathematical notation in views intended for online courses that I wish to offer using Mahara.

So far, I cannot get Mahara's html translator to recognize MathML (math markup language) generated by such open-source web site packages as Amaya or by cut-and-past from the proprietary equation editing plugin Mathtype.

Is Mahara not yet capable of handling MathML?

I did obtain nicely formatted equations using html code generated by the website www.codecogs.com. This is an elegant approach but requires real-time access to the codecogs website when the html is rendered on your browser. (See the code example below.)

Does anyone know about other solutions? In the long run, I hope MathML becomes a standard part of Mahara if it is not so already. A built-in icon-based equation editor would be especially nice.

=============

Code example

<p><a href="http://www.codecogs.com/eqnedit.php?latex=\frac{\mathrm{d} y}{\mathrm{d} x}= x^{3}" target="_blank"><img title="\frac{\mathrm{d} y}{\mathrm{d} x}= x^{3}" src="http://latex.codecogs.com/gif.latex?\frac{\mathrm{d} y}{\mathrm{d} x}= x^{3}" alt="" /></a></p>

27 February 2011, 0:18

I second it about maths notation in a view. It could be done with the same way as Moodle.

One solution I can think of is to upload the file and use 'Some HTML' under files, images and video.

But it is not the best way to do.

I wrote a feature request about html box rather than text box. And I recommend you to write a feature request at https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+filebug .

27 February 2011, 21:59

It looks like both TinyMCE and HTML Purifier filter out MathML tags:

  http://mahara.org/view/view.php?id=33295

So right now, the external image service is your best bet.

Feel free to create a bug for this on the Mahara tracker though (and please link to this forum thread).

HTML Purifier mentions MathML under "Extensions" here:

  http://htmlpurifier.org/docs/enduser-customize.html

This could potentially be used:

  http://www.fmath.info/plugins/download.jsp

Cheers,

Francois

28 February 2011, 8:56

Many thanks To François and earlier to Shinichi for helpful comments and advice about mathematics notation. I will follow their suggestions to create a "bug" to suggest inclusion of MathML recognition in future versions of Mahara...and check some of the other links suggested.

Best wishes,

Randy

PS I hope to use Mahara to build a community of physics researchers spanning from secondary school to postdoctorate. Mahara seems to be a great software environment for this and will be even better still once mathematics can be more transparently included.

01 March 2011, 15:19

I don't think fmath.info is for mahara. It uses flash and it won't work for iPad, iPhone and iPod. I'm not a Mac person, But many schools use Mac and nowaday iPad as well.

Javascript based plugin will be better for Mahara.

How about this?

http://www.imathas.com/editordemo/demo.html

It works on iPad.

Or this, http://www.wiris.com/plugins/editors/download?filter=tinymce

or this http://korpelainen.net/mediawiki/index.php/How_to_install_TinyMCE_math_plugins_for_moodle

06 March 2011, 6:39

I am involved with the MathJax project and I would like to point you to MathJax (http://www.mathjax.org) as a possible way to display mathematics on Mahara. From what I am reading in this thread, I think it may be exactly what you are looking for.

MathJax is an open-source Javascript technology that renders mathematics on the web. It works on all modern browsers (including smartphones, iPads, and other tablets) and requires no plug-ins, fonts, or other client-side installation. It supports both MathML and LaTeX. Besided crisp math display at every zoom level, MathJax offers copy-paste mathematics and integration with Assistive Technologies to speak math aloud for people with visual impairments. All of this is very hard or impossible to achieve with picture-based solutions.

If you'd like to see MathJax in action, please have a look at this example on Connexions: http://cnx.org/content/m10678/latest/

I am not aware of current integrations with Mahara, but it is usually straightforward to integrate MathJax with other online platforms. See http://www.mathjax.org/community/mathjax-in-use/ for some pointers to other integrations.

Hope this is useful, and drop a line via the contact form at http://www.mathjax.org if you'd like to discuss this further.

06 March 2011, 7:49

@Hylke Koers: Thanks for your links. I tried all of my suggestions and found none of them worked. At least my initial attempts. Wiris uses deprecated php, editordemo did not work by some reasons. I was giving up almost.

Actually I bookmarked Mathjax before but I forgot about it.

Thank you for your comment. I will try it asap.

06 March 2011, 13:37

It worked! I wrote a blog about it here. Sample may not able to see until tomorrow,

http://shinokada.wordpress.com/?p=13&preview=true

06 March 2011, 16:17

Hi Hylke,

Thanks for jumping in. Your project does look like a superior alternative to the flash-based plugins.

I can't remember if it has been done yet, but if it hasn't, then I would suggest that someone who cares about this feature should file a bug for it on our bug tracker:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+filebug

(including the projects mentioned in this thread)

Cheers,

Francois

06 March 2011, 19:38

I filed a wishlist item at https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/730373