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What is MathML?

MathML 2.0, a W3C Recommendation was released on 21 Feb 2001. A product of the W3C Math working group, MathML is a low-level specification for describing mathematics as a basis for machine to machine communication. It provides a much needed foundation for the inclusion of mathematical expressions in Web pages [more].

Try it!

Many implementations of MathML are available (browsers and authoring tools), many of which are open source software. Go to the MathML Software list for descriptions and pointers, or read the Implementation and Interoperability report.

There is a good chance that your browser already supports MathML (possibly with the addition of a plug-in). You can try this test page to find out. If you want to put your mathematics on-line this way, read our Putting mathematics on the Web with MathML document.

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The Math Working Group published a new draft of the MathML 3.0 specification, which is intended to be the last one before the specification becomes a Candidate Recommendation, around the end of the year. That means this is the last call for comments. Please, send comments to <www-math@w3.org>. The deadline is November 11. See the status section and appendix F for an overview of the major changes. The Math Working Group published new drafts of two specifications, Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) Version 3.0 and A MathML for CSS profile. The new draft of MathML 3.0 especially affects chapter 4, on content mark-up, but there are smaller improvements throughout the document. The new draft profile adds some elementary math (e.g., long division) and includes sample CSS rules for displaying elementary math formulas. See the drafts for the details and for how to give feedback. The Math Working Group published the fourth draft of MathML version 3. Some more of the non-normative text has been removed in favor of a separate Primer. The presentation mark-up now allows the author to insert rendering hints in case the renderer has to insert extra line breaks. But most of the editorial effort has gone into defining the underlying semantics of content mark-up (chapter 4): it is now almost completely expressed in terms of OpenMath Content Dictionaries. That should not affect authors, but it enables software to convert between different math systems. Chapter 8 will eventually describe the structure of those Content Dictionaries. Comments on the draft are very welcome on the group's (archived) public mailing list, <www-math@w3.org>. There will be at least one more draft before the specification becomes Candidate Recommendation. The charter of the Math Working Group expired earlier this year, and, after a few months' extension to determine the contents of the next charter, W3C decided to renew the charter until April 2010 without any changes to the work items. The updated schedule puts a Candidate Recommendation for MathML 3.0 at the end of 2008 and the group currently expects it can finish all its work, including all test suites, in early 2010. W3C Members can use a form to join the Working Group. The Math Working Group published a new version of the draft XML Entity definitions for Characters. The specification defines names for many Unicode symbols. The names can be used in MathML if the use of the symbols themselves is inconvenient or impossible. The list of names is a superset of the list defined by HTML. The specification includes DTDs to include the names in other XML-based formats and also XSLT2 scripts to convert symbols to names. The organizers of the Mathematical User-Interfaces Workshop 2008 call for papers. The workshop takes place at the Seventh Mathematical Knowledge Management Conference, at the University of Birmingham, UK, July 27th 2008. The coordinator is Paul Libbrecht. Papers can be submitted until May 31, 2008. The Math Working Group has set up a syndicator for MathML-related news, called “Planet MathML.” It includes news about Math software, news from the Math WG itself (of course), blog entries written by working group members, and articles from the <www-math@w3.org> mailing list and elsewhere. The Math Working group published a new draft of MathML 3. Especially chapter 4, Content Markup, has improved, and the content dictionaries (section 4.4) are aligned with OpenMath3. Some other material has been removed and will reappear later in a separate primer. The Math Working Group published new drafts of three specifications: A MathML for CSS profile (a profile of MathML3 that can be displayed with current CSS), MathML 3.0 and XML Entity definitions for Characters (a list of names for Unicode characters, selected from existing standards, for use in MathML or elsewhere). The Entity definitions draft was published for the first time. The Math Working Group published the first drafts of two new specifications: MathML version 3 is the latest version of MathML and A MathML for CSS profile describes how to use (a subset of) MathML3 that can be rendered in browsers that only support CSS. The new version of MathML will have better support for bidirectional text, better alignment with OpenMath, and will fix a number of errors and changes that have become necessary because of changes outside of MathML, such as new versions of Unicode. (Dadzilla can display right-to-left mathematics.) Dadzilla is a browser that can display MathML. Versions 1.1 (Linux) and 1.2 (Windows) support MathML in Arabic, as described in the W3C Note “Arabic mathematical notation,” as well as mixed Latin and Arabic texts. Dadzilla has been written by Mustapha Eddahibi and Azzeddine Lazrek (Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, Morocco) and is based on Mozilla. The Math IG published a note called “Arabic mathematical notation,” which analyzes the use of MathML in documents written in the Arabic script. There are pitfalls in the correct implementation of MathML in right-to-left scripts, but there are also limitations of MathML itself that might require an update of the standard. Jacques Distler has adapted MovableType into a MathML publishing platform. With the help of a plugin, TeX equations in weblog entries and in comments are automatically converted to MathML. Technical details are on his weblog. The String Coffee Table is another weblog making extensive use of this technology. The W3C Math Interest Group announces the new MathML software list. Now all items are organised either by name or by type of software, making browsing easier. It also looks slightly better... To submit a description your software, please refer to the "sumbmitting a description of your software" page. XSL Formatter, the well-known XSL-FO renderer from Antenna House has now an add-on to render XSL-FO + MathML documents. See the entry in our software page for a short description or Antenna House's XSL Formatter MathML Option page for a longer one. Bill Hammond of the University at Albany has released version 0.8 of GELLMU (Generalized Extensible LaTeX-Like MarkUp), a free software project designed to furnish a bridge to the world of XML for those familiar with LaTeX typesetting markup. The "regular" form of GELLMU now provides output streams for both XHTML+MathML and PDF (spun by pdflatex) from a single source document. David Carlisle, co-chair of the W3C Math Interest Group gave a keynote speech at the Second European Workshop on MathML and Scientific e-Contents (Kuopio, Finland on 16.-18.9.2004). On 18 September, the Mathematical User-Interfaces Workshop, organised by Paul Libbrecht from the IG, took place in Bialowieza, Poland. And on 26-29 October the Hermes and Semantic Authoring with TeX and MathML workshop took place at the Albert Einstein Institute, Golm-Potsdam, Germany. A new version of Formulator has been released. Among the new features is an improvement in MathML import and export. MathPlayer 2.0 is out: Design Science releases MathPlayer 2.0. MathPlayer 2.0's new compatibility with Mozilla that means that stylesheets no longer need to be referenced. Other notable features of new release are support for MathML's alignment tags and support for speaking math. MathPlayer works with leading screen readers, fulfilling the promise that MathML is an accessible format. Open Math Edit is an open source WYSIWIG equation editor that can export MathML. And now, it's Samuel Chong's (of the Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center) turn to offer translations of PMoTWWM in simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. Congratulations! Claudio Cattazo has translated Putting mathematics on the Web with MathML in Italian, helping making it one of the most international W3C documents! The Second European Workshop on MathML and Scientific e-Contents (Kuopio, Finland on 16.-18.9.2004) will address to delivering mathematical contents trough the Internet to be utilized by human beings as well by computer programs. Different technologies - LaTex, MathML, OpenMath * are presented. Speakers include Eitan Gurari, David Carlisle, Mika Seppälä, etc. Tadas Talaikis has translated Putting mathematics on the Web with MathML in Lithuanian, the ninth language this document has been translated in. A new source of online mathematical material in MathML. From the authors: EMTeachline® mathematics software offers an extensive MathML-based resource for teachers and students. Many thousands step-by-step solutions and proofs in arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, hyperbolic trig and calculus can be viewed and saved in MathML format. Math teachers are enabled to develop and save in MathML format quizes, tests, lesson plans and worksheets. Hundreds detailed solutions of algebraic and trigonometric equations and inequalities, proofs of identities etc are available online. W3C is pleased to announce the approval and re-launch of the Math Activity. The Math Activity is launched until 31 December 2005. A new Math Interest Group is chartered through December 2005. The Group's charter describes its goals and plans. Software updates: MathML .NET Control 2.0 and SciWriter 1.5 from Soft4Science. Design Science have also updated their description and screenshots of their line of products on our MathML software page. Three interesting new pieces of software recently announced: ASCIIMathML.js: a JavaScript script which allows editing of XHTML+MathML through a simple text shorthand language; gNumerator: two .net components that implement the MathML DOM and a renderer; Hermes: a conversion tool from LaTeX + custom macros. All three are Open Source software. The "Math on the Web Pavillion" at Joint Mathematics Meetings 2004 (Phoenix,AZ,USA - 7-10 January 2004) will feature a series of talks on the state of Math of the Web, the tools available, techniques to use them, etc. Speakers include Don DeLand, Sam Dooley, Patrick Ion, Barry MacKichan, Bob Matthews, Darren McIntyre, Robert Miner, John Risley, Neil Soiffer and Eric Weisstein. The Pavillion will be at exhibit booths 114 and 116, and is organised by Design Science Inc. Based on the successful completion of the Math Working Group, whose charter expired in September 2003, the Math Activity is now closed. However the Activity should be reopened again soon in order to create a Math Interest Group which will continue the work of maintaining existing documents, working with other W3C groups and provide general support on MathML and mathematics on the Web. The Math Working Group has published three documents as W3C Notes: Bound Variables in MathML, Structured Types in MathML 2.0 and Units in MathML. These Notes serve as companion documents to the MathML 2 Recommendation and provide guidelines and examples on its use. The Math Working Group is proud to announce that MathML 2.0, second edition has become a W3C Recommendation. Many thanks to members of the public who contributed by sending comments on www-math. A few supporting testimonials are available. MathML 2.0, second edition Design Science have announced that Microsoft will provide the MathPlayer (tm) to MSN users, allowing them to view MathML markup in Microsoft's Web products "Publishing Equations? Do the Math(ML)", by Robert Boeri, in EContent Magazine. MathML 2.0, second edition is now a Proposed Edited Recommendation. This means that at this point the W3C seeks endorsement of the stable technical report from the member companies. The review period will last until 6 September, after which the spec (hopefully) becomes a final Recommendation. Public feedback is always welcome on www-math@w3.org (archive). The Last Call Working Draft of MathML2.0, 2nd edition, is available. The Last Call period will last until 9 May. People are invited to review the draft and send comments to www-math@w3.org. DongSok KANG has translated Putting mathematics on the Web with MathML in Korean. Including the examples pages, David Carlisle's presentation at the MathML conference, and all the comments in the code! soft4science have announced "MathML .NET Control 1.0", a MathML based "WYSIWYG-style" equation editor control for the .NET Framework. Written in 100% managed C# code, the control offers .NET developers a fast and simple way to include a MathML based equation editor in their Windows applications. The .NET control can also be hosted in Internet Explorer. A free trial version is available. Michael Kohlhase, from the Math WG has published a new MathML tutorial, which introduces the language as well as explores relationships with other mathematical notation languages and exposes concrete problems with publishing MathML on the Web The Math Working Group have published the first Working Draft of the second edition of MathML 2.0. This mainly is a re-issue to fold all the changes in the MathML 2.0 errata document back into the main text, but also for the first time it includes a W3C XML Schema, and a version in which all the examples are inlined and should render in a MathML aware browser. Feedback sent to www-math@w3.org is very much welcome. Pavi Sandhu from Wolfram Research has written the first book on MathML. It is called The MathML Handbook and covers not only the MathML 2.0 specification, but also the use of the language on the Web as well as software that supports it. The First European Workshop on MathML and Scientific e-Contents will be held in Trieste, Italy, on 21-22 November 2002. The workshop aims at bringing together content providers and interested developers to discuss and share the best practices of the ongoing research, applications and projects on all topics related to Mathematical Markup Language -MathML and enabling technologies for the use of mathematics and scientific content on the Web. Stéphan Sémirat has written WeM: an MathML editor that converts a subset LaTeX to MathML . It can be tested on line and is also available for download (GPL, requires PHP). Robert Miner, from the WG, writes: "There is a new version of the MathML 2.0 test suite. It fixes the bugs that have been reported, improves a number of sample renderings (though there is still plenty of room for further improvement) and adds a number of tests. Mathplayer 1.0 (tm), Design Science's MathML renderer for Internet Explorer is now out and downloadable Netscape 7.0 is out. And MathML is supported. On Linux and Windows. Mozilla 1.1 was released yesterday. At last, Mozilla can now display MathML on Linux, Windows and MacOS. MathML display is now included in the nightly builds of Mozilla for Mac OS X. A new site, MathML Central, established by Wolfram Research, provides tools and resources for MathML. In particular it offers a forms-based MathML expression renderer that can return the equation in many formats such as a picture, as well as a MathML validator Netscape have announced the availability of Netscape 7.0 Preview Release 1, which now includes support for MathML. Please try it and send feedback saying how much you like it! Vasil I. Yaroshevich has released an XSLT stylesheet to convert MathML2 markup to LaTeX. At present only Presentation MathML is supported; however, full MathML support is planned. The Math Working Group has made available the "Universal MathML stylesheet" which makes it possible to author a single form of HTML+MathML that will be viewable in many browsers, including IE5.5, IE6 and Mozilla. Cross-browser mathematics are at last becoming a reality. Kudos to David Carlisle for writing most of the code. Bhuvanesh Bhatt has announced a package that exports TI-89/92+ expressions to content MathML called TIMathML. Design Science have announced the availability of a free version of MathPlayer (tm), a MathML display engine for Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. The latest version of Mozilla (0.9.9) now includes support for displaying Presentation MathML, either as stand-alone files, or inlined within an HTML page. The Math page at W3C has been redesigned. Not only it looks different but it is now authored using custom XML markup and transformed to HTML using XSLT (the XML version is directly readable on browsers supporting XSLT). An RSS feed is also generated from the XML source, making it possible to receive the news using news gathering software. Submissions for the MathML 2002 Conference are now open. [update on 3 March: submissions for papers are closed, but Posters and Demos can still be submitted by March 15]. Design Science, Inc., the developers of MathType(tm) and the Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, announced the release of the WebEQ(tm) Developers Suite, a toolkit for building Web pages that include dynamic math. The new Working Group will be working on maintaining the MathML2.0 Recommendation, continuing liaison with other W3C working groups and other standards bodies, and more generally continue the task of facilitating the use of mathematics on the Web. Read the new charter . MathML 2.0 Structured types in MathML 2.0 Bound variables in MathML Units in MathML Arabic mathematical notation MathML 3.0 (draft) XML Entity definitions for Characters (draft) A MathML for CSS profile (draft) OpenMath, a language to represent semantic mathematical objects MathWeb.org, supporting mathematics on the Web Math on the Web from AMS MathML Central by Wolfram Research MathML Information Center by Design Science SGML/XML and Math by Robin Cover Zvon MathML examples MathZilla = MathML + Mozilla ActiveMath, a learning environment for mathematics The Math Forum, an online math education community center Journal of Online Mathematics EMTeachline®educational sotfware: School mathematics in XML-MathML Planet MathML (news aggregator) Putting mathematics on the Web with MathML Implementation and Interoperability Report MathML FAQ Working Group Charter Briefing Package for Math Activity MathML requirements The W3C MathML test suite The W3C XML Schema for MathML2 The Importance of MathML to Mathematics Communication by R. Miner Mathematics on the Web with MathML by M. Froumentin Math on the Web: A Status Report (Sep 2002) by R. Miner and P. Topping. A Gentle Introduction to MathML by Robert Miner and Jeff Schaeffer MathML: Presenting and Capturing Mathematics for the Web by Michael Kohlhase www-math, main list about MathML. WebMath, maths on the Web. See the MathML Software List. The MathML Handbook, by Pavi Sandhu