Re: MathML as a symbolic math language

In article <1134267830.119099.199750@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Chip Eastham <hardmath@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>Hatto von Aquitanien wrote:
>> Does MathML provide a useful enough abstract language specification to use
>> it as the basis of a symbolic algebra processor? What does it lack? What
>> flaws does it have? I'm specifically asking about content MathML, as
>> opposed to presentational MathML.
>>
>> http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/chapter4.html
>
>My impression is that the flexibility of MathML for expressing formulas
>is at odds with the needs of CAS software for strong typing of
>entities. The <apply> construct allows one to indicate an operation
>between entities with no concern for type consistency.
>
>You could restrict the domain of computation in some manner to mitigate
>these design conflicts, but it's probably a better idea to let a CAS
>package use (internally) data structures less portable (hopefully more
>optimized for computational purposes) than MathML node fragments or
>similar.

I hope nobody is talking seriously about using MathML as the internal
representation for mathematical objects in a CAS.

>Perhaps you are not asking about internal structures at all. I think
>MathML is being adopted for input/output purposes in some packages.

For example, Maple can import from and export to MathML.

Robert Israel israel@xxxxxxxxxxx
Department of Mathematics http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel
University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: MathML as a symbolic math language
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  • Re: MathML as a symbolic math language
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  • Re: MathML as a symbolic math language
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  • Re: MathML as a symbolic math language
    ... I'm specifically asking about content MathML, ... package use data structures less portable (hopefully more ... Perhaps you are not asking about internal structures at all. ...
    (sci.math.symbolic)
  • Re: MathML as a symbolic math language
    ... >> Could MathML representation be isomorphically mapped to a useful internal ... > the "content" needed to reproduce that object in the CAS. ... There is Presentation MathML, which as ... Maple can try to make sense of Presentation MathML, ...
    (sci.math.symbolic)