WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Math Expressions

for

From: Wayne Dick
Date: Jun 4, 2008 3:00PM

Dear Friends,

I am a partially sighted since birth and my PhD is in Mathematics. I
have tried everything to make reading Mathematics easier. Tex and LaTex
were the hope for a long time, but using these systems always involved
morphing systems target for small visual media into a new and badly
supported format.


LaTex is presentation oriented which means semantics must be deduced
from presentation. It is a type setting system and as such is visually
oriented. Material written in LaTex cannot always be translated to the
intended mathematics in a deterministic way. This then reduces the
reader to listening to a linearized sequence of the symbols and then
re-assembling the two dimensional math object back in their mind. It is
very tricky and not many people can do it professionally.

Content MathML does not have this problem.

Many mathematicians with print disabilities know LaTex and Tex because
until recently they were the only game in town. For some who have
learned these systems change would be difficult. The difference between
Content MathML and LaTex / Tex is that any expression in content MathML
could be translated to LaTex or Tex with 100% accuracy using a program.
The inverse operation is not always computable with a program.

So, if you have content MathML you can always write an XSL sheet to turn
it into LaTex / Tex. So, current LaTex / Tex users will never get
lost. But you cannot do a similar operation with 100% confident for
LaTex / Tex to content MathML.


Why build information loss into your electronic files for storing
electronic mathematics. For standardization use MathML then convert to
other formats as needed.

Wayne Dick PhD.
Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science
California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, CA 90815