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Explorations into the Use of Word Embedding in Math Search and Math Semantics

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Intelligent Computer Mathematics (CICM 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11617))

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Abstract

Word embedding, which represents individual words with semantically rich numerical vectors, has made it possible to successfully apply deep learning to NLP tasks such as semantic role modeling, question answering, and machine translation. As math text consists of natural text as well as math expressions that similarly exhibit linear correlation and contextual characteristics, word embedding can be applied to math documents as well. On the other hand, math terms also show characteristics (e.g., abstractions) that are different from textual words. Accordingly, it is worthwhile to explore the use and effectiveness of word embedding in math language processing and MKM.

In this paper, we present exploratory investigations of math embedding by testing it on some basic tasks such as (1) math-term similarity, (2) analogy, (3) basic numerical concept-modeling using a novel approach based on computing the (weighted) centroid of the keywords that characterize a concept, and (4) math search, especially query expansion using the weighted centroid of the query keywords and then expanding the query with new keywords that are most similar to the centroid. Due to lack of benchmarks, our investigations were done using carefully selected illustrations on the DLMF. We draw from our investigations some general observations and lessons that form a trajectory for future statistically significant testing on large benchmarks. Our preliminary results and observations show that math embedding holds much promise but also point to the need for more robust embedding.

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Correspondence to Abdou Youssef .

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Youssef, A., Miller, B.R. (2019). Explorations into the Use of Word Embedding in Math Search and Math Semantics. In: Kaliszyk, C., Brady, E., Kohlhase, A., Sacerdoti Coen, C. (eds) Intelligent Computer Mathematics. CICM 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11617. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23250-4_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23250-4_20

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-23250-4

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