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Math-Literate Computers

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Intelligent Computer Mathematics (CICM 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5625))

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Abstract

Math notation is a familiar, everyday tool widely used in society. Computers need math literacy – the ability to read and write math notation – in order to assist people with accessing mathematical documents and carrying out mathematical investigations. In this paper, we discuss issues in making computers math-literate. Software for generating math notation is widely used. Software for recognition of math notation is not as widely used: to avoid the intrusiveness and unpredictability of recognition errors, people often prefer to enter and edit math expressions using a computer-oriented representation, such as LaTeX or a structure-based editor. However, computer recognition of math notation is essential in large-scale recognition of mathematical documents; as well, it offers the ability to create people-centric user interfaces focused on math notation rather than computer-centric user interfaces focused on computer-oriented representations. Issues that arise in computer math literacy include the diversity of math notation, the challenges in designing effective user interfaces, and the difficulty of defining and assessing performance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6

    Dorothea Blostein

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  1. Dorothea Blostein
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, L8S 4K1, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Jacques Carette

  2. Informatics, 2.02 Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh, 10 Crichton street, EH8 9AB, Edinburgh, UK

    Lucas Dixon

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna, via Mura Anteo Zamboni, 7, 40127, Bologna, Italy

    Claudio Sacerdoti Coen

  4. Department of Computer Science MC 375, University of Western Ontario, N6A 5B7, London, ON, Canada

    Stephen M. Watt

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Blostein, D. (2009). Math-Literate Computers. In: Carette, J., Dixon, L., Coen, C.S., Watt, S.M. (eds) Intelligent Computer Mathematics. CICM 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5625. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02614-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02614-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02613-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02614-0

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