MathML
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAT : MathML
- For help writing formulae in Wikipedia, please see [[Help:Formula]].
The specification of version 1.01 of the format was released in July 1999 and version 2.0 appeared in February 2001. In October 2003, the second edition of MathML Version 2.0 was published as the final release by the W3C math working group.
MathML was originally designed before the finalization of XML namespaces. As such, MathML markup is often not namespaced, and applications that deal with MathML, such as the Mozilla browsers, do not require a namespace. For applications that wish to namespace MathML, the recommended namespace URI is http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML.
MathML deals not only with the presentation but can optionally also include information about the meaning of formula components (the latter part of MathML is known as MathML-Content). Because the meaning of the equation is preserved separate from the presentation, how the content is communicated can be left up to the user. For example, web pages with MathML embedded in them can be viewed as normal web pages with many browsers but visually impaired users can also have the same MathML read to them through the use of screen readers (e.g. using the MathPlayer plugin for Internet Explorer).
Another standard called OpenMath which has been designed (largely by the same people who devised MathML-Content) more specifically for storing formulae semantically can also be used to complement MathML.
Example
The well-known quadratic formula:- [x = \frac}]
and like this in MathML:x = \frac}
[ x = ] - b ± b 2 - 4 a c 2 a
Although less compact compared to TeX, the XML structuring promises to make it widely usable and allows for instant display in applications such as Web browsers and facilitates a straightforward interpretation of its meaning in mathematical software products. MathML is not intended to be written or edited directly by humans.
Software support
Several utilities for converting mathematical expressions to MathML are available, including converters [link] between TeX and MathML. ConTeXt does the reverse and uses TeX for typesetting MathML (usually resulting in PDF documents). MathType from Design Science allows users to create equations in a WYSIWYG window and export them as MathML. Also, Wolfram Research provides a [web page] to convert typed mathematical expressions to MathML.GNU TeXmacs is a what-you-see-is-what-you-want editor with extensive support for mathematics. Converters exist for presentation MathML in both directions. TeXmacs can be used to write mathematical articles which are exported to XHTML with embedded MathML. Another WYSIWYG MathML-as-is editor, Formulator [link] provides a means for importing/exporting MathML with support for some abstract entities such as ⅇ and ⅆ. The W3C Browser/Editor Amaya can also be mentioned as a WYSIWYG MathML-as-is editor.
Of the major web browsers, those that directly support the format are recent versions of Mozilla and its derivatives.[link] Other browsers support the format using external plugins. For example, Internet Explorer supports MathML using the Design Science MathPlayer plugin.
MathML is also supported by major office products such as OpenOffice.org and KOffice and by mathematical software products such as Mathematica.
However, except for Mozilla, MathPlayer and Amaya, none of the above mentioned products support all of the basic elements of MathML 2.0 (e.g.
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