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Math Accessibility Online

Abstract
An open discussion about mathematics, including algebra and calculus, on Web 2.0 and
social networking sites.

Note: This document is now out of date, and has been replaced by a wiki, Online
Mathematics Access at: http://onlinemathematicsaccess.wikispaces.com/. Please modify the
wiki rather than this document.

Author List
Please add your name here if you have made any changes or additions to this wiki. Anyone
interested in mathematics may be an author.
23/7/2009, Colin McAllister, email: colin dot [email protected], Twitter: colinmca,
cmcallister.vox.com
23/7/2009, Maria Droujkova, Twitter: MariaDroujkova, Math, technology and community
consultant, naturalmath.com
25/7/2009, Bob Mathews, email: bobm @ dessci.com, Twitter: MathType, dessci.com

Copyright
This document "Math Accessibility Online" is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Malaysia License. "Math Accessibility Online" is simply a
descriptive name for this document, similarity with any other uses of the name or of similar
names is coincidental. Suggested reasons for which you might wish to modify this document
include: adding your own contribution, correcting errors, or translation to another language
or media format.

Disclaimer
This document or wiki is open to anyone interested in mathematics. Content should be of
general interest to mathematics enthusiasts around the world. User created content is
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. Opinions are those of
their authors. Mathematics is traditionally an open and free academic discipline, and
remains so on this document or wiki. Most of the sites mentioned are free, open and
internationally available. They are commercial too, and may offer some features for
payment. For many online services, most users find that the free features are adequate for
their needs. Please obey laws and regulations that apply to your use of this document or
wiki, e.g. copyright laws, or regulations at your place of work or study. Please appeal
against laws and regulations that restrict your right to freely access this document or wiki
and other forms of personal or academic communication. Content on this document or wiki
expresses our personal interest in mathematics, and does not represent any business or
organisation. The content is presented soley for general information. I manage this
document or wiki as a personal hobby, using the free Basic Service Plan of Wikispaces.com,
and make no service guarantees of any kind. Please keep a copy of any content that you
create, in case this document or wiki becomes unavailable without notice. If you are
presenting a lot of information, or any information that is valuable or commercial in nature,
then you should post it on your own wiki or website, and not here. All trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Any errors will be corrected on request.

Colin McAllister, 29th July, 2009.

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Weekly Math Chat as announced at Mathfuture

The future of mathematics and education is discussed on a wiki at

http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/ and weekly discussions on Twitter under hashtag
#mathchat, and using meeting software Elluminate. In lieu of attending the meetings, I
have prepared this document and opened it up for collaborative editing as a wiki at
http://onlinemathematicsaccess.wikispaces.com/.

New Wiki - Online Mathematics Access

The wiki Online Mathematics Access is an open discussion about the support for
mathematics on Web 2.0 and social networking sites. It contains background material for a
July, 2009 online meeting organised by Maria Droujkova. Some of Maria's questions are in
the Discussions section, and you are invited to add your opinions as comments.

The page "Status of Online Support for Mathematics Discussions" is a draft summary of the
situation, and is open for collaborative editing.

Open discussions on this wiki include:

* How can we share math online?

* What sites support math conversation?
* Is it OK to use plain text math?
* Considerations for impaired vision or hearing?

The wiki is public. If you wish to modify it or add your opinion, just follow the link and
request access. In case of access difficulty, send an email to colin dot mcallister at
ymail.com, or contact Support at Wikispaces.
One of the varied topics is "Text vs Graphical Problem Solving" or
Solve the Same Problem in Different Environments
To compare a text only discussion forum (Orkut.com) with a graphical discussion forum
(Ning.com), it is helpful to observe the same mathematics problem being attempted in each
environment.

This wiki began as a document, available as Math Accessibility Online (PDF) or Math
Accessibility Online (Microsoft Word) Document on Scribd.com. These are out of date, so
please refer directly to the Wiki.

I wish to thank Maria Droujkova for organising the online meetings on this topic at the
Mathfuture wiki, and for asking the above questions.

Personal Introductions:
Colin:
Hello, I'm Colin, a Software Engineer lecturing in Computer Science in Malaysia. During the
last year I have checked many social networks, and found that they do not offer good
support for technical discussions. Nevertheless maths discussions thrive among students on
the Orkut.com and Friendster.com social networks, which only offer plain text dialog.
Email: colin dot [email protected]

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Some of the questions:

Asked by Maria Droujkova for the July 23rd, 2009 online discussion.

How can we share math online?

Colin: Many documents with math content are saved as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice
documents, or as Adobe PDF files. We share them with our contacts via email, or upload
them to shared disk drives, or to online ftp or file sharing sites. Mathematicians and
scientists have, for decades, been using LaTeX, PostScript and DVI files to prepare and
publish math documents. Donald Knuth, inventor of Tex is the pioneer of using computers
to create typeset documents. More spontaneous dialogue, on bulletin boards and social
networks, is usually text based, and that limitation makes complex equations tedious to
read.

What social networks and virtual worlds are more supportive of math
conversation?
Colin: Blackboard and Moodle for course management, and Zoho Writer for online word
processing all provide an equation editing tool.
The Wordpress and Movable Type blogging platforms support equation rendering, by the
installation of extensions on the host blog.
Mathematics CyberBoard http://www.sosmath.com/CBB/ include equations that are entered
as LaTeX and embedded as images within the text.
The Thesaurus of mathematical terms http://thesaurus.maths.org/ uses Java for graphics.
Browsing the site with Firefox, it uses MathML for equations. Browsing with Internet
Explorer, it requires the free MathPlayer plugin; as described on the the Help Page. Social
Networks on Ning.com support one or multiple images embedded in discussion text. With
the assistance of online equation editors, that is good support for discussing mathematics.

afwings re: What sites support math conversation?

There are many many others -- too many to list here -- but here are some:

* Wikipedia
* PlanetMath
* Physics/Math Help Forum
* Blogger blogs

There's an add-in by Peter Jipsen (ASCIIMathML.js) that will allow you to use ASCII markup
or LaTeX on your own website, and many blogs, wikis, etc. If you have access to and can
edit the <head> of the page, you can add it. It converts the markup into MathML for
display. http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html

Is it OK to use plain text math e.g. sqrt(5^3)?

Colin: That's common practice in the most active forums, e.g. on the Orkut.com
communities. I believe that the practice became common due to programming languages
like Fortran and Algol in the 1970's and earlier. The caret "^" and slash "/" are two of the
ASCII characters that are useful in representing algebra in plain text documents. Most web
sites support Unicode characters, but the habit of using only the ASCII subset is still strong.
The "Less Than" symbol "<" may pose a problem, for example in discussions on the
Hi5.com social network, where it is interpreted as HTML markup. It can be encoded as
&#60;. (If you are going to explain that to someone on a web page, you need to encode the
ampersand too, which is &#38; in HTML markup.)

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Any considerations for people who are blind or deaf?

Colin: Our answers to this question are hypothetical, until we have the opinions of people
who who have impaired vision or hearing. Some social networks support images in
discussions, e.g. Ning.com sites. That is a problem, because images embedded in the
dialogue are not accessible to people who are blind or have low-vision, or by any screen
reading software that they use. Images are used for explanatory diagrams, or to present
equations that have been rendered using an online equation editor. Just as Google added
an audio alternative to the visual CAPTCHA, , content creators need to add descriptive text
to supplement all of the images that they use. More educational content is being create as
video on Youtube or audio podcasts. Obviously, that content needs to have subtitles, sign
language or transcription to be accessible to people with impaired hearing.

Opinions:

The issue being discussed is: Support of mathematics and more specifically algebra and
calculus on Web 2.0 and Social Networking sites.

Colin: 7/23/2009

Where there is a lack of support for discussing mathematics online, it is an inconvenience

rather than a major obstacle. One reason that I downplay the limitations is that the Web
was born at CERN, a scientific research establishment, with the needs of scientists taken
into consideration from the very beginning. The issue is part of a greater theme, that
everyone should become more literate in mathematics. Our environment is becoming
increasingly technological, and mathematics is a core component of technology. We are
faced with many social and environmental problems, and use mathematics to analyse them
and to validate potential solutions. The global financial crisis, and the portion of blame
attributed to quantitative analysis, indicates that even experts need to improve their skills in
applying mathematics to the real world. Online support of mathematical discourse is one
tool that could assist in mathematics literacy. The Web supports text based information, and
Web 2.0 is adding more structure, using formats like XML and standards like W3C.
Mathematical discourse is inherently structured, as is technical discourse within any
academic speciality. MathML is one of the W3C standards that is supported in the Firefox
browser, and it can be used for expressing equations online. Most browsers and websites
support images, so LaTeX representations of equations rendered as images is a way to get
mathematical content into online discussions. Use of images in discussions is an obstacle for
people who are blind, whereas MathML can be translated to audio or Braille.
Some of these ideas are based on group discussions on Mathematics24x7.ning.com and on
the "Math, Math Education, Math Culture" discussion group on LinkedIn.com.

Relevant Online Discussions:

The related discussion on the Mathematics24x7 social network is: Editing Equations on Web
2.0 Discussion Forums
This discussion is also on LinkedIn.com, in the group Math, Math Education, Math Culture,
title "Editing Equations on Web 2.0 Discussion Forums".

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Document Collaboration
This document: Math Accessibility Online shared at Google Docs.

This document Math Accessibility Online as a PDF file on Scribd.com.

Public wiki at http://onlinemathematicsaccess.wikispaces.com/.

Blog Post Editing Math Equations on Web 2.0 Sites (PDF file on Scribd.com)
The actual blog post (on Vox.com) is: Editing Equations on Web 2.0 Sites

A Brief History of Math Related Communications

Useful Codes

Numbers 0..9.0 in Morse Code:

.---- ..--- ...-- ....- .....
-.... --... ---.. ----. -----

ASCII character codes: A-Z upper and lower, 0,9. Special characters useful for algebra:
Division: x/y. Power x^2. Square Root: x^0.5
Fortran Programming: Square: X**2, Square Root: SQRT(x).

Visualisation
Geographic contour maps an early application of visualisation of 3D data in 2D.
Wikipedia, on Contour Line shows a contour plot of the function
2 2
f(x)=sin(x +y )cos(x)sin(y).
2
Here, the superscript for x was created using the Format toolbar of Zoho Writer.

Online Support for Mathematics

Editing Text on Social Network Discussions
Superscript and subscript are the most basic of rendering in algebra, yet they are not
available on any popular social network.
Blackboard, the educational content management system and Zoho Writer are the only
collaboration tools known to me that support them.
Math discussions take place on LinkedIn.com, Friendster.com and Orkut.com, yet none of
these support any HTML markup.

Campus Firewall Restrictions

Youtube, Skype and Elluminate (online meetings) are all utilised for math education, yet
they are blocked by firewalls or network proxies at many schools and universities.

Introductions to LaTeX and Lyx

Latex is a markup language that has been used by mathematicians and scientists for the
1980's. There are many online equation editors that assist you in using LaTex to create the
image of an equation. Lyx is a graphical editor for LaTeX that runs on Unix and Linux. Many
mathematicians find LaTex easier to use than Microsoft Word for editing and formatting
documents.

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LaTeX made easy

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/latex-made-easy
LyX made easy
http://tuxradar.com/content/lyx-made-easy

Rendering Equations as Images

Inserted image: Quadratic_Solutions.gif

Most blogs let you attach one image to your post. In some social networks, notably
Ning.com, you can embed multiple images into your text, which permits expressive
mathematical dialog. Use an online equation editor, as at CodeCogs or Thornahawk, to
generate an image of your equation. For example, the expression "\frac{-
b\pm{\sqrt[]{(b^2 - 4*a*c)}}}{2a}" renders the formula for solutions to the quadratic
equation a*x^2+b*x+c=0. I inserted the rendered image "Quadratics_Solutions.gif" into
this document.
In a plain text discussion, this could be expressed as:
(-b +/- sqrt(b^2-4*a*c))/(2*a)
Where the caret "^" represent a power and a slash "/" represents division. Nested
parentheses are necessary to specify the equation unambiguously, and would be familiar to
anyone who uses a scientific calculator.

Online Equation Editors

The purpose of an equation editor is to render an equation or formula as a small image,
which can be incorporated within a document or online posting.
The following equation editors assist entering of LaTeX markup, and generate an image of
the equation for downloading.
Online "sitmo" equation editor http://www.sitmo.com/latex/
Online equation editor, at CodeCogs.
Online equation editor, at Thornahawk.

Microsoft Word includes the Microsoft Equation Editor.

Online word processor: Zoho Writer: The basic edit menu includes x-superscript and x-
subscript, that are invaluable to mathematicians, yet neglected by most Web 2.0 toolbars.
Under the Insert menu are Special Characters including Greek letters, and an equation
editor. Greek letters are heavily used in mathematics, physics and engineering.

Microsoft Excel allows formula to be entered in a cell of the spreadsheet. The purpose of the
formula is calculation, not presentation. The idea of arranging formula in a spreadsheet was
conceived by Dan Bricklin, inventor of the VisiCalc personal computer software.

Math Markup Languages

MathML at MIT
On this page, MathML at MIT, you will find basic information to help you get started with
using MathML.

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ASCIIMathML.js
ASCIIMathML.js, Translating ASCII math notation to MathML and graphics. Requires
Internet Explorer 6 + MathPlayer or Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape (with MathML fonts).

LaTeX
A Short Math Guide for LaTeX (PDF)

AMS-LaTeX
AMS-LaTeX, The software distributed under the name "AMS-LaTeX" consists of various
extensions for LaTeX.

Testing Math Markup

Bob demonstrates that WikiSpaces has LaTeX capability, on his wiki at
http://afwings.wikispaces.com/

MathParser
MathParser is a freeware tool that converts MathML into LaTeX.
MathParser parses MathML to Latex, tutorial.

Markup in Microsoft Office

Microsoft Equation Editor (Wikipedia)

Math markup marked down

Blog post Math markup marked down discusses new issues that scientists and
mathematicians face in using Microsoft Office.

Twitter hashtag: #mathmarkup

Online Mathematics Communities

Mathematics for Web 2.0, Mathfuture Wiki.

Twitter Hashtags:
#mathchat, for Web 2.0, mathematics and education topics, by Maria Droujkova.
#mathmarkup, for mathematics markup, LaTeX, MathML and related topics.

The Mathematics24x7.ning.com social network, created by Rashmi Kathuria on the

Ning.com service.

The LinkedIn.com, discussion group Math, Math Education, Math Culture, created by Opher
Liba.

Orkut Mathematics (One), owner: Wat An Idea. Orkut Mathematics (Two), moderators:
Balakrishnan, Mihir, Hrishikesh, Ranajeet, Cláudio, Paramanand, NiLos.

The Friendster group "ELITE MATH CIRCLE", one of many, used by students to discuss math
problems.

The Friendster Mirimatics group, topical stories about mathematics, with links. (Hosted by
Colin)

Mathematics CyberBoard http://www.sosmath.com/CBB/ include equations that are entered

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as LaTeX and embedded as images within the text.

The Thesaurus of mathematical terms http://thesaurus.maths.org/ uses Java for graphics.

Browsing the site with Firefox, it uses MathML for equations. Browsing with Internet
Explorer, it requires the free MathPlayer plugin; as described on the the Help Page.

Text vs Graphical Problem Solving

Solve the Same Problem in Different Environments
To compare a text only discussion forum (Orkut.com) with a graphical discussion forum
(Ning.com), it is helpful to observe the same mathematics problem being attempted in each
environment.
The problem is:
What is the largest area of the semi-circle that can be inscribed in a square of edge length 1
unit?

Solving the Problem in a Plain Text Discussion

This question was posted by harpreet in the topic " maxima & minima" on a Mathematics
forum on Orkut.com on 12th July 2009. (The comment cover two pages, so you need to
click Next to go the the 2nd page.) There, you can see that the solution is presented in plain
text. It is very difficult to explain the geometry in plain language, and the reader would
need to have a good imagination to visualise the explanation. The equations were expressed
in plain ASCII text, and are more tedious to read than typeset equations. An advantage of
the plain text solution is that it is available to people who are blind or have poor vision. The
text could be vocalised or translated to Braille by screen reading software.

r+r/sqrt(2)=1
r*sqrt(2)+r=sqrt(2)
r*(1+sqrt(2))=sqrt(2)
r=sqrt(2)/(1+sqrt(2))
r=(sqrt(2)-1)*sqrt(2)/((sqrt(2)-1)*(1+sqrt(2)))
r=2-sqrt(2)
A=pi*r^2/2

Solving the Problem in a Discussion with Embedded Images

I posted the same question "Largest Semicircle Inscribable in a Unit Square" in the Math
Problem Solving group on http://mathematics24x7.ning.com/ on Ning.com.
You can see that graphics were used to explain the solution. A diagram of the geometry was
presented by uploading an image. The sequence of equations, that lead to the solution, are
typeset, which makes them much easier to read than plain text. The typesetting of the
equations was done using an online equation editor. An image of the equations was then
uploaded into the article. Generally articles that include graphic equations do not include the
source LaTeX, so that information is lost, making it difficult for someone else to develop the
equations further. In this case, I included the source LaTeX for the equations.

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Conclusion

We cannot draw firm conclusions from a comparison of the two forums, because the
availability of graphics was not the only difference between them. The members of the
Orkut group were students and the members of the Mathematics24x7 group were teachers
or graduates. A key question that remains to be answered is: Would the discussion on the
Orkut community have progressed further if the participants had had a convenient method
of drawing the geometry and rendering the equations?

Blocked But Useful Websites

These web services are useful for mathematics, but are blocked on some campuses because
of high traffic or perceptions that they are not useful for education.

Youtube.com
Youtube is host to many academic and training videos, as well as funny videos of people
falling down. This service may be blocked because the network does not have enough
capacity for multimedia traffic.

Skype.com
An Internet video call is an effective way for two or more people at distant locations to have
a discussion. Mathematicians and teachers, like everyone else, need to collaborate to
advance their craft. This service may be blocked because the network does not have enough
capacity for multimedia traffic.

Elluminate
Sas.Elluminate.com is an online conferencing service. An online conference is an effective
way for a group of people at distant locations to have a meeting. Mathematicians and
teachers, like everyone else, need to collaborate to advance their craft. Elluminate needs
Internet ports that may be blocked by a campus firewall or Internet proxy. The service is

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used to host online academic conferences, e.g. a weekly conference about mathematics on
the web.

Friendster.com
Friendster.com contains many school or subject based discussion groups, e.g. "ELITE MATH
CIRCLE", where students discuss and solve math problems. The service does not have
effective spam filtering.

ftp and sftp Protocols

ftp is a traditional method of transferring or sharing files. sftp is the secure version of the
protocol. Both are commonly blocked. Many file hosting sites offer http and https as
alternative protocols for download files.

Wireless Access from Linux Laptop PCs

Some campuses require installation of a Windows DLL in order to make a wireless Internet
connection. This policy blocks Internet and LAN access for all laptop computers, net books
and other mobile devices, that have non-Microsoft operating systems, including Linux, Unix,
Macintosh OS/X and Chrome. Many mathematicians, scientists and programmers prefer
Unix and Linux operating systems, because of the application programs, publishing software
and other tools that are available.

P2P Networks
Some campuses block every Peer-to-Peer Network that is know to them. P2P protocols are
an efficient method of distributing large files, and have great potential for legitimate
academic use.

File Sharing Hosts

Some campuses block host-based file sharing services. These services are a popular method
of distributing files, and have great potential for legitimate academic use.

OpenMath Standard

OpenMath is an extensible standard for representing the semantics of mathematical objects.

The OpenMath homepage: http://www.openmath.org/index.html. Om -- a general public
discussion list for any aspects of OpenMath: Mailing list subscription form.

Advanced Language Technologies for Mathematical Markup, research presentation (PDF).

OpenMath Content Dictionary Wiki

Advanced Language Technologies for Mathematical Markup, slide show.

Easily Editing and Browsing Complex OpenMath Markup with SWiM, slide show.

Mathematical Semantic Markup in a Wiki, slide show (PDF)

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Bibliography Tools
BibTex
BibTex is bibliographic software used in scientific publication.
Using BibTeX for a math CV’s publication list, blog post.

EndNote
EndNote tends to be used more in the arts and BibTex in the sciences. It is useful for
accessing library catalogs and exporting to BibTex format.

OpenOffice.org Bibliography Feature

Using Zotero to manage OpenOffice.org bibliographies, blog post.

RefWorks
Is RefWorks compatible with LaTeX/BibTeX? RefWorks FAQ

Zotero
Math markup in zotero, blog post.

Drawing Software
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator CS4 Adobe® Illustrator® CS4 software is a comprehensive vector graphics
environment.

Dia
Dia is a gtk+ based diagram creation program released under the GPL license.
Dia Homepage
Dia is available for Microsoft Windows. Version 0.97 from Softonic.com.
Dia Links.

CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4

Google Sketchup
Google Sketchup, to create, modify and share 3D models.

Inkscape
Inkscape review from Linux Journal.
Download page for Mac OS/X, Linux and Windows.
Guide to a Vector Drawing Program
Un-official manual by Kevin Wixson

Karbon
Karbon is a vector drawing application with an user interface that is easy to use, highly
customizable and extensible.
Karbon from KOffice.org

Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Office Visio 2007.
Visio Educational Shapes, Microsoft download link.

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Office Visio 2007 for Students, academic shapes from Microsoft.

Mathematics: 3-D Geometry, Analytical Geometry, Angles, Circles & Ellipses, Common
Functions, Exponential, Logarithmic, and Power Functions, Hyperbolas and Parabolas, Plane
Geometry, Sets, Sine, Cosine, and Tan.

W3C Standards

W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications,
guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.
http://www.w3.org/

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML)

The mission of the XHTML2 Working Group is to fulfill the promise of XML for applying
XHTML to a wide variety of platforms with proper attention paid to internationalization,
accessibility, device-independence, usability and document structuring.

W3C Semantic Web Activity,

The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and
reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries.

Amaya, the W3C's Web editor.

Download Amaya for Windows or Linux

SVG
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an open W3C standard for describing two-dimensional
graphics.
SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics and graphical applications in
XML.
Drawing software, like Inkscape, saves drawings in SVG format.

Maths Accessibility Online