The presentation of this document has been augmented to use XHTML rather than HTML, and to include all MathML examples as inlined MathML markup that should be rendered by a MathML enabled browser. The MathML examples that have been added, and which should be displayed in your browser, are marked like this.

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Abstract

This specification defines the Mathematical Markup Language, or MathML. MathML is an XML application for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. The goal of MathML is to enable mathematics to be served, received, and processed on the World Wide Web, just as HTML has enabled this functionality for text.

This specification of the markup language MathML is intended primarily for a readership consisting of those who will be developing or implementing renderers or editors using it, or software that will communicate using MathML as a protocol for input or output. It is not a User's Guide but rather a reference document.

This document begins with background information on mathematical notation, the problems it poses, and the philosophy underlying the solutions MathML 2.0 proposes. MathML can be used to encode both mathematical notation and mathematical content. About thirty of the MathML tags describe abstract notational structures, while another about one hundred and fifty provide a way of unambiguously specifying the intended meaning of an expression. Additional chapters discuss how the MathML content and presentation elements interact, and how MathML renderers might be implemented and should interact with browsers. Finally, this document addresses the issue of MathML characters and their relation to fonts.

While MathML is human-readable, it is anticipated that, in all but the simplest cases, authors will use equation editors, conversion programs, and other specialized software tools to generate MathML. Several early versions of such MathML tools already exist, and a number of others, both freely available software and commercial products, are under development.

Status of this Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This is a revised edition of a document thathas been reviewed by W3C Members and other interested parties and has been endorsed by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. That is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference from another document. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web.

This document has been produced by the W3C Math Working Group as part of W3C Math Activity. The goals of that W3C Math Working Group are discussed in the W3C Math WG Charter (revised February 2000 and June 2001 from original of 11 June 1998). A list of participants in the W3C Math Working Group is available.

The MathML 2.0 specification was reviewed extensively during its development, as provided by the W3C Process. During end of that period the W3C Math Working Group members encouraged implementation using the specification and comment on it; a report on Implementation and Interoperability experiences and issues has been made public. It is intended that this will be updated from time to time by the continuing work of the W3C that oversees the MathML 2.0 Recommendation. The W3C Math Working Group maintains a public Web page http://www.w3.org/Math/ which contains further background information.

The preparation of a Second Edition of the MathML 2.0 Specification allows the revision of that document to provide a coherent whole containing corrections to all the known errata and clarifications of some smaller issues that proved problematic. It is not the occasion for any fundamental changes in the language MathML 2.0.

Public discussion of MathML and issues of support through the W3C for mathematics on the Web takes place on the public mailing list of the Math Working Group (list archives). To subscribe send an email to www-math-request@w3.org with the word subscribe in the subject line.

Please report errors in this document to www-math@w3.org.

The English version of this specification is the only normative version. Information about translations of this document is available at http://www.w3.org/2001/02/MathML2-translations.

The MathML 2.0 Recommendation is made available in different formats. In case of a discrepancy between any of the derived forms and that found in the W3C's archive of Recommendations the definitive version is naturally the archived Recommendation.

A list of all current W3C Technical Reports can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.

Patent disclosures relevant to this specification may be found on the Math Working Group's patent disclosure page.

MathML 2.0 is a revision of the earlier corrected W3C Recommendation MathML 1.01. It differs from it in that all chapters have been updated and two new ones and some appendices added.

Chapters 1 and 2, which are introductory material, have been revised to reflect the changes elsewhere in the document, and in the rapidly evolving Web environment. Chapters 3 and 4 have been extended to describe new functionalities added as well as smaller improvements of material already proposed. Chapter 5 has been newly written to reflect changes in the technology available. The major tables in Chapter 6 have been regenerated and reorganized to reflect an improved list of characters useful for mathematics, and the text revised to reflect the new situation in regard to Unicode. Chapter 7 has been completely revised since Web technology has changed. A new Chapter 8 on the DOM for MathML 2.0 has been added; the latter points to new appendices D and E for detailed listings.

The appendices have been reorganized into normative and non-normative groups. Appendices D, E and G are completely new.