Mathematics FEATURE
font elements from a server using Web Fonts. For older browsers that lack this functionality, MathJax can fall back to image-based rendering. MathJax also supports the STIX fonts, a collection of specialised Unicode fonts for mathematics, and will use these fonts when they are installed on the computer of the reader. MathJax is very simple to use for both readers
and authors. Thanks to wide JavaScript support, MathJax “just works” for readers on all modern browsers (Windows, Unix, and Mac), tablets and smartphones, without the need to install plugins, fonts, or other software. If you are an author and want to use MathJax
to typeset the mathematics in your web pages, you need only include a single tag in your HTML fi le that points to the public MathJax content distribution network (MathJax CDN) web service, which was launched together with the release of MathJax 1.1. The CDN enables users to take advantage of MathJax software without installing or maintaining the software themselves. It can be accessed from any web page and delivered from fast local servers no matter where in the world readers are located. With the link in place, authors can just include MathML or LaTeX source in their HTML documents and MathJax will take care of the maths display. MathJax can be used on stand-alone webpages
but, thanks to the CDN service, it is also easy to use MathJax with many online publication platforms such as WordPress or Moodle.
Standardisation and industry acceptance MathJax accepts both LaTeX and MathML as input. The former is not a formal standard but is a very mature technology, and a de facto standard particularly in certain scholarly communities such as research mathematics and physics. MathML is a mature standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium, currently in its third revision. It is also part of HTML5, which means that documents using MathML for equations can be in a standard format, using MathJax as an enabling technology to reach all browsers including those that don’t support MathML in HTML5 directly. MathJax itself is rapidly becoming a vital part
of the scientifi c communication infrastructure. MathJax adoption continues to accelerate, and MathJax is increasingly being used in many different contexts, including scholarly communication, e-learning, web platforms (blogs, forums, wikis) large and small, and in several web applications – including online algebra systems, calculators, and even a MathJax plugin for Gmail.
www.researchinformation.info MathJax users
Examples of websites and organisations already using MathJax include: Scholarly communication MathSciNet from the American Mathematical Society Elsevier’s Article of the Future The Optical Society The Annals of Mathematics, Project Euclid at Cornell CERN document server E-learning The Khan Academy Connexions Flat World Knowledge OpenStudy OCW Scholar, discussion platform for MIT OpenCourseWare WebAssign
Web platforms Stack Exchange MathOverfl ow
Web applications Mathics Encalc GmailTeX
In addition to this, several leading STM publishers and e-learning companies are currently testing MathJax or already planning to integrate it into their online platforms.
After three months of operation, the MathJax
CDN service was serving more than 2,000 distinct web domains with at least one request per week (see box for some of today’s users). At the other end of the spectrum, the MathSciNet database of reviews and abstracts contains over two million items, most of which contain MathJax-displayed notation.
Keeping up to date The internet is a rapidly-changing environment, with frequent browser updates and a proliferation of tablets, smartphones, and e-book readers. Keeping MathJax a reliable and easy-to-use product requires thorough testing and monitoring performance on all these devices, and organising a rapid response when problems appear. To this end, we have set up a thorough automated testing framework and continue to strengthen testing procedures. Authors want to be able to use MathJax
in all their favourite web platforms, without worrying about installing and maintaining it on a server of their own. The centralised installation of MathJax on a CDN brings easy
and dependable access to MathJax to many more users in many more contexts. MathJax is an open-source project, and we
are glad to see many useful contributions from the community. At the same time, the ability to have paid technical staff and open source contributions makes it possible to keep moving forward rapidly with critical issues such as automated testing procedures and maintaining professional-quality software development standards. This costs time, effort and money and the CDN services cost money too. So far the founding organisations, AMS,
SIAM, and Design Science, have been very generous in providing funding. However, as the benefi t to the community is growing, we are aiming to broaden the base of support and we have revamped our sponsorship programme. So far this has been very successful, and we have recently announced support from Stack Exchange, The Optical Society, WebAssign, American Institute of Physics and IOP Publishing, in addition to ongoing support from APS, Elsevier, and Project Euclid.
The future In the near future technical plans include an enhanced user interface for accessing advanced functionality for equations, performance enhancements and better integration with e-books via support for SVG rendering of mathematics, and expanded maths typesetting capabilities for linewrapping long equations and for elementary mathematics constructions like long division. We also hope to see continued growth in MathJax usage. We will encourage usage by continuing outreach activities and by working with organisations to discuss how they can benefi t from MathJax. In addition, we hope to increase the base of support for MathJax by attracting new friends, supporters and partners. Another plan is to create a central repository
for third-party contributions to MathJax. There are many very useful contributions by the community, for example in integrating MathJax with other software. To better utilise these contributions we plan to create a central repository where such contributions are collected, documented, and promoted. We are currently planning a new release
cycle, and incorporating feedback from the community on development priorities.
Hylke Koers was business development manager for MathJax, although she has recently begun working for Elsevier
OCT/NOV 2011 Research Information 25
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