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MathML 2.0 Becomes W3C Proposed Recommendation

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the can't-use-binary-for-*everything* dept.

Nearly three years after the officialization of MathML's first generation, MSjogren writes: "W3C has announced the advancement of MathML 2.0 to Proposed Recommendation. Check out the W3C Math home page. Now I just wish I could get it to work decently in Mozilla too :(" Part of the proposed recommendation is this explanation of some of the difficulties and aims of mathematical expression, especially when it comes to transmitting over the Web, which emphasizes the importance of a format which can be written to by various tools as appropriate, for reading by anyone.

2 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Kewl by cluge · · Score: 4
    Now I can write things like ax^2+bx+c=y and then explain the quadratic equation to people without needing a white board. This also comes in handy when dealing with teaching people to balance chemical equations and such.

    Finally, a way to teach terrorists about fission with web pages that make everything look correct! This is truly a great thing, praise the green bug god for this. Now to have my minions can study mathematics and chemistry as i force them to slave away scraping watch hands so that I can collect enough fissionable material!

    --
    "Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
  2. Does this still require a plug-in? by Stephen+VanDahm · · Score: 4

    Something like this would be schweet if it became widely accepted. HTML is OK for most things, but mathematical notation and things molecular diagrams in Chemistry have to be represented with image files which can, of course, be a real pain in the ass.

    Our little college is looking into MathML as a possible way to give online placement tests to incoming first-year students, and I found that it required special browser plug-ins to work. So I'm guessing that a browsers like Opera, kfm, and my grandmother's TV internet appliance are just out of luck. Needless to say, I'm not very comfortable with depending on browser plug-ins for anything.

    How soon is it going to be before browsers support this stuff out-of-the-box, without me having to download and install a stupid plug-in?


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    Stephen C. VanDahm