MathTran - Online translation of mathematical content

Contents

  1. What's new?
  2. What is MathTran?
  3. What is TeX?
  4. What is MathML?
  5. Why is MathTran so quick?
  6. Why is MathTran so slow?
  7. How do I get help with TeX?
  8. Any plans for more examples?
  9. Can MathTran process LaTeX?
  10. What is Secure Plain?
  11. Is MathTran secure?
  12. Can I use my own macros with MathTran?
  13. How do I save the images MathTran creates?
  14. How do I install a MathTran?
  15. Who are JISC?
  16. What are your development plans?
  17. How do I report a bug?
  18. How do I add a question to the FAQ?
  19. How can I help?

Questions and Answers

  1. What's new? In a word, everything. MathTran is new. Later, this will be the place to look for a quick update on what's happened recently.

  2. What is MathTran? MathTran is an open source project to provide translation of mathematical content as a web service. It's goals are to provide translation of mathematical content, from TeX to MathML and vice-versa, and to graphics formats, as a web service. The software that provides this service is open source, and can be downloaded and installed on your own web-server or desktop machine (Unix/Linux only at present).

  3. What is TeX? TeX is typesetting program, written by Don Knuth. TeX defines the standard for mathematical typography. It is highly reliable, open source, and you get a reward check for finding a bug in TeX (but not necessarily in software built on TeX, such as MathTran). There's lot's more information about TeX at the TeX Users Group.

  4. What is MathML? MathML is the Mathematical Markup Language developed by the World Wide Web consortium, the leading standards body for web pages. It is a standard for the the inclusion of mathematics in web pages. There is a lot of information on the MathML home page.

  5. Why is MathTran so quick? TeX is a complicated program, and it takes a little while to start up (although not as nearly as long as many desktop programs). MathTran starts TeX once, and keeps it running while it waits for input, and after it's done your task it waits for the next client. Technically, this is called running TeX as a daemon. We also run the graphics translator dvipng as a daemon.

  6. Why is MathTran so slow? It takes time for the network to transmit your request to the MathTran server, and to transmit back to you MathTran's response. This is called network latency. If you wish, ping mathtran.org to find out how long a round trip takes. It you use MathTran a lot, and the delays bother you, please think of installing it

  7. How do I get help with TeX? There are examples of using TeX on the MathTran site, and we give you a menu for pasting them into the user input window. Finding an example that is similar to your problem is a good starting point. On small examples (and a good network connection) MathTran provides instant preview. For more help, try the TeX FAQ or the newsgroup comp.text.tex.

    If you find you can't do what you want because of a bug or missing feature in MathTran, please report a bug.

  8. Any plans for more examples? We'd like part of the MathTran site to be a wiki, where you could add and discuss examples. But we're not there yet.

    However, the examples file is a simple minded plain text file. Simply send in some examples, formatted as that style, and we'll try to use them. We will ask you to give us copyright permission to so use these examples.

  9. Can MathTran process LaTeX? Not yet, but we intend to work on it. There is problem that has to be solved first, though. MathTran runs a just a few TeX daemons, that are shared by all its users. We have to make sure that one user can't spoil things for the others, for example by redefining the commands that you use. We've already done this for most of the Plain TeX commands, but we haven't got to LaTeX yet.

  10. What is Secure Plain? Plain TeX is the first TeX format, and it is describe in Don Knuth's The TeXbook. Secure Plain (secplain) is a special TeX format, based on Plain that prevents the user doing many bad things (we hope). For example, secplain denies users direct access to most of TeX's primitive commands.

  11. Is MathTran secure? We hope so, but we're not sure yet. Security is important to us, and the project plan includes a security audit for MathTran. If you are particularly interested in security, please contact us. Offers of help on security are particularly welcome.

  12. Can I use my own macros with MathTran? After MathTran has processed your input, it returns to effectively the same state as before, and waits for the next user. It's not easy to do this quickly, if each user is defining their own macros.

  13. How do I save the images MathTran creates? If you right-click on the image in your web browser, you will be asked offered a Save Image As ... command. This is true for all web pages, not just MathTran.

  14. How do I install a MathTran? You don't need a server to use MathTran; it is available as a web service. However, if you decide to install MathTran on your own server, we'd be delighted. You'll need a Unix or Linux server with TeX, Python and dvipng installed.

    To install, download the latest mathtran release from Sourceforge, unbundle and follow the instructions. If your TeX does not have interprocess communication (IPC) enabled, you will also have to rebuild your TeX executable. The installation process is not as simple as we'd like, so do contact us if you want help.

  15. Who are JISC? JISC is the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee, an education and research funding body. In 2006 they put out a Toolkits and Demonstrators invitation to tender, and they approved The Open University's MathTran submission. The MathTran project has funding for 86 days work. When JISC funding runs out at the end of June 2007, MathTran will be all volunteer only project (unless we get other funding).

  16. What are your development plans? There is another MathTran website that contains more information about the project. In particular, it contains the project proposal (PDF, 117Kb) submitted to JISC.

  17. How do I report a bug? We are using the Tracker system provided by Sourceforge. Here are the links to report a bug, request a feature or make a support request.

  18. How do I add a question to the FAQ? Please use the Tracker system or send us an email.

  19. How can I help? These are early days for the MathTran project, and all help is welcome. Special skills, although valuable, are required. If you use MathTran, and tell your friends and colleagues about it, you are already helping the project. If you wish to help further, please send us an email.

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