[edutex] SearchOnMath - a big reward from just a little LaTeX

[Jonathan Fine]

Hi

Sometimes, perhaps often, people don't want to use our software. Rather,
then want to HAVE USED our software. If you have an email to write, you
don't want to use an email client. You want to start and finish writing
your email. You want to HAVE WRITTEN the email, so you move on to the next
task in the day.

(This is not my idea. I think it originates from David Platt, who explains
it a wonderful 2 minute long video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOTTLQ0rlY.)

I found a nice piece of software that illustrates this, in the TeX realm.
The website http://www.searchonmath.com/ has indexed several sources of
mathematical knowledge, so that you can search not for a word or phrase,
but a formula.  I think this is a nice idea, and marvellous that it can be
done.

Imagine how useful this would be, to have an electronic maths or physics
textbook that allowed you to find all uses of a particular formula or
expression. The computer science behind SearchOnMath started in 2008, with
the PhD work of Flavio Barbieri Gonzaga at the Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro.

OK, so now let's cut to the chase. The web page http://www.searchonmath.com/
allows you to search for a formula. Here's a random example
http://www.searchonmath.com/result?equation=P%28B%29+%3D+%5Csum_k+P%28A_k+%5Ccap+B%29&page=1&tm=0

Please try it out. I found SearchOnMath this afternoon, and think it is
rather wonderful.

The SearchOnMath user interface allows the user to input a mathematical
formula IN LATEX MATH NOTATION. Here, the user knowing just a little LaTeX
allows her to use the sophisticated software to find the pages she's
interested in. She can search for any formula she knows how to write in
LaTeX.

Many of us learnt LaTeX because we had something big and difficult to do,
like writing a PhD thesis. Our task was so large, we are willing to spend
hours and days learning how to use this powerful tool. And we expected to
use for many years after our PhD. Here learning LaTeX is a major
specialised professional skill.

With SearchOnMath, perhaps 15 minutes of learning gives a good reward. As
more is done online, so there will be more examples of a where little LaTeX
knowledge goes a long way. For example, a formula editing application, for
getting an occasional formula into an ordinary web page.

Here's my key idea. At the one end we have graduate students who want to
write a PhD thesis. At the other end, we have people who don't want to
write a PhD, but occasionally need to write a formulas, as a means to some
other end.

Somehow, we want to have rewards to match effort for both simple and
sophisticated use of LaTeX. And for there to be a smooth transition from
one end to the other. Some users of LaTeX will want to write an occasional
formula now and then. Other will want to write a whole book. To promote
LaTeX effectively in education, we need as a group to understand and
respect these differences.

Finally, please do look at Dave Platt's video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOTTLQ0rlY. He gives an engaging
presentation of the main idea, and the trap software developers can fall
into.

best regards

Jonathan
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