[OS X TeX] Test Bank and dynamic math worksheets

[Alain Schremmer]

On Dec 30, 2012, at 2:47 PM, Nicole wrote:

> I am a newbie at Latex and I'm hoping someone can point me in the  
> right direction.  I want to create a database of math questions that  
> I can use to generate worksheets. My goal is to have 100 possible  
> questions for each topic and choose a few at random each time a  
> worksheet is created. I would also like the option of picking out a  
> specific question for the worksheet. What I have now is several  
> documents with these question written and I cut and paste the code  
> into my worksheet  as needed. I would like to automate the process  
> as much as possible. I've heard of R (a spreadsheet or statistical  
> software?) but I don't know anything about it. Could someone tell me  
> what languages/programs I would need and possibly recommend a book  
> or two for learning how to use them?
>
> If this has already been discussed I'll be happy to read the thread,  
> but I couldn't figure out how to search the archives. Perhaps  
> someone could suggest a month and year that I could start looking?


There is of course Nicola Talbot's probsoln package which is on CTAN

Other than that and as far as I know, there are several handmade  
"LaTeX systems" to create exams, etc but I don't recall there ever  
being a thread about this.

One of these is by a Frenchman, Alain Matthes, who was/is on this  
list. As I remember it, it is a rather polished one.

See <http://www.altermundus.fr/>

But I don't know anything about it. The reason I didn't use it back  
then was because the style of questions was not what I needed.

I am pretty sure someone else also mentioned making exams in passing,  
less than a year ago, while asking about something latex.

Another one, for what it is worth, is by another Frenchman, myself,  
based on probsoln but probably more than a bit idiosyncratic. You can  
download it from

<http://www.freemathtexts.org/AncillariesManagement/Downloads.php>

and it is described in some detail in

<http://tug.org/pracjourn/2010-2/schremmer.html>

Regards
--schremmer