I'm puzzled by the choice of technology here. TeX is not an unambiguous language for mathematics. I dislike the verbosity of MathML, but it seems to at least address the surface-syntax issue (while likely botching semantics). It is not clear what Sage is exactly offering -- is it a lingua franca for a (subset of?) interchange of its components? Is MathML under the covers? If not, what?
What happened to MathJax? (As an example, it is possible to represent x+1 in Maxima in at least 3 ways. Presumably there are a bunch of other ways in other systems.) Regarding the development of courseware programs to support the teaching/learning/testing of subjects requiring the I/O of mathematics: this seems like a good idea from the teacher's side, and allows for the writing and funding of grants. It is far less clear how it works from the student perspective. Realize that to some students the effort to interact with a computer, especially type math on a keyboard, is strictly an additional burden. Most students just want to get a passing grade and forget their math. But not all, and it is presumably a benefit to society to encode math knowledge as well as the teaching of math and math-using subjects in durable, low-cost, distributable computer form. RJF RJF -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
