Ryan Hodson - Rys MathML Tutorial

Well begin by creating a single variable with MathML. Replace the comment in the with the followingcode.

The tag begins a new MathML expression, and itshould always use the above URI for its xmlns attribute. Thedisplay attribute determines how the expression is rendered. Itsvalue can be either block or inline, as describedbelow.

Well use block expressions for the majority of thistutorial, deferring inline elements to the module.

Next, the element defines a MathMLidentifier, which can be a function name, a constant, or avariable. In this case, we used the letter x as theidentifiers value, which your browser should render as thefollowing.

MathML uses the element to represent numericliterals, which can be either integers or real numbers (digits with a decimalpoint). Underneath our existing element, try addingthe following expression.

Notice that your browser rendered the number 3 with an uprightfont, while it decided the x identifier should be italicized:

Even though were working with Presentation Markup, the and elements do carry semanticmeaning. This lets a MathML reader make certain assumptions about how totypeset their contents (e.g., italicizing variable names). Well learnhow to control these stylistic assumptions in .

Operators

For now, lets move on to the element formarking up operators. Again, the following expression should be added below theexisting examples in your hello-mathml.html file.

xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'display='block'> 3 x - 2 y

This example uses for a minus sign, but itsmeant to denote any kind of operator-like entity including=, +, , ,and even parentheses and commas. Explicitly delimiting operators helps MathMLviewers make important layout decisions like where to break lines.

Its important to note that traditional typography differentiateshyphens from minus signs, which are longer. In the above HTML code, we used ahyphen, but since we put it in an element, the browserinferred that we were trying to create a minus sign.