I was thinking that an input method for mathmatical symbols and formulas might be a useful addition to haiku. I don’t know much about the input kit but I think it could be like the Japanese input method with the deadkeys and auto combining.
Just something that popped into my head in math class today.
look into mathML maybe it will help you out…its a html dedicated to mathematics…i do not think having a math input system may benefit the os but it would be good to have it in a text editor. maybe the mathML could be part of the html kit.
If I needed something to just display math that might help, but I was thinking more for computerized note taking, or writing lab reports etc…
MathML wouldn’t work if I wanted to sit down in math class and start note taking. You’d need something that would do the symbols on the fly not hacking tags missing the lecture.
I know that paper and pencil would be the best. Long reguarded as the defacto note system, I just like the idea of wipping out a tablet PC and scribbling away. Just me I guess
Writing maths is going to be inherently difficult for the time being at least. MathML as you’ve noted is good for processing, but horrendous for writing manually. I doubt that an input method would work terribly well given there’s limited scope for representing the symbols in text.
However if you’re just looking for something to write up maths, the easiest method I’ve encountered is using LaTeX. It’s still a bit of a chore, and I’m not entirely sure it’d be practical in a note taking environment, but it’s probably your best bet.
Oh…sorry…i was thinking displaying math…
You could have simple formulas and special symbols and automatically translate them…Openoffice.org does this. for example (1+2)/(x - 5) is converted to a fraction…sqrt(5) is converted to a square root symbol under which 5 sits…etc etc
also look how MSWord does it.
I heard about LaTeX and I heard is good…