On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 9:03 AM, John Maddock wrote:

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This is just some info, that might interest others :

I just recently discovered :

http://www.mathjax.org

which is quite nice for writing math equations.

I use quickbook for my documentation. Fortunately it is very easy to incorporate MathJax into quickbook, so you can write :

''' <my-latex-math>some formula in latex</my-latex-math> '''

That's really cool, and it looks like Mathjax could become the defacto standard for Math in web pages.

Unfortunately at present I don't see an easy way to integrate this into PDF generation - as the code you posted is HTML output specific.  However, given that MathJax can handle MathML - which is what Boost.Math uses for it's equations - I guess we need to experiment to see if this can be nicely integrated into the Boost.Math docs.

Yes, I know pdf pose a problem, but for my own simple usage, I think I can hack my way around. I am still not sure I will need pdf documentation in my project.

Thanks for the heads up on this, John. _______________________________________________ Boost-users mailing list Boost-users@lists.boost.org http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users

On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 9:11 AM, Jeroen Habraken wrote:

On 25 October 2010 11:03, John Maddock wrote:

...

...

This is just some info, that might interest others :

I just recently discovered :

http://www.mathjax.org

which is quite nice for writing math equations.

I use quickbook for my documentation. Fortunately it is very easy to incorporate MathJax into quickbook, so you can write :

''' <my-latex-math>some formula in latex</my-latex-math> '''

That's really cool, and it looks like Mathjax could become the defacto standard for Math in web pages.

Unfortunately at present I don't see an easy way to integrate this into PDF generation - as the code you posted is HTML output specific.  However, given that MathJax can handle MathML - which is what Boost.Math uses for it's equations - I guess we need to experiment to see if this can be nicely integrated into the Boost.Math docs.

Well, it's a LaTeX formula, which can be converted to PDF by latex / pdflatex to be included in another PDF document, there has to be a way to make that work.

Without being an expert. The neat thing about the MathJax approach was it avoided compiling latex completely (and all the setup hassle it brings), so if you want to do that, I see no need for MathJax. There are plugins that handle latex formulas separtely, I just found it a pain to use.

Jeroen _______________________________________________ Boost-users mailing list Boost-users@lists.boost.org http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users

On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 11:21 AM, John Maddock wrote:

...

...

Unfortunately at present I don't see an easy way to integrate this into PDF generation - as the code you posted is HTML output specific. However, given that MathJax can handle MathML - which is what Boost.Math uses for it's equations - I guess we need to experiment to see if this can be nicely integrated into the Boost.Math docs.

Well, it's a LaTeX formula, which can be converted to PDF by latex / pdflatex to be included in another PDF document, there has to be a way to make that work.

I'm 100% sure it can be made to work, and I'm 100% sure it won't be easy!

For example with MathML the docbook XML needs the MathML content in a separate namespace to get all the tags passed through correctly, but MathJax requires that a namespace prefix *not* be used :-(

I'm sure some kind of fancy custom docbook XSL processing layer could be used for this, I just don't want to have to write it!

John.

PS.  Update: looks like docbook dbhtml-include processing instructions might work.... will investigate. _______________________________________________ Boost-users mailing list Boost-users@lists.boost.org http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-users

Just a final comment on this subject. You can argue that in some situations it's OK to have features only available in one format say html. Especially when the code change is so small. Let me give you another example. I also have implemented so I can put Google Custom Search in my documentation, which allows the user to search parts or the whole documentation. It's very easy and in my opinion would be a great improvement for the boost online docs. At first glance, you only think on the search features, but it's more than that. You as a software provider, get stats on user searches, which can be used to improve the search and the documentation. Just a suggestion.

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 9:19 AM, Paul A. Bristow wrote:

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-----Original Message----- From: boost-users-bounces@lists.boost.org [mailto:boost-users- bounces@lists.boost.org] On Behalf Of Bo Jensen Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 7:32 PM To: boost-users@lists.boost.org Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [boostbook+quickbook] : A way to write latex math

Just a final comment on this subject. You can argue that in some situations it's OK to have features only available in one format say html. Especially when the code change is so small.

Let me give you another example. I also have implemented so I can put Google Custom Search in my documentation, which allows the user to search parts or the whole documentation. It's very easy and in my opinion would be a great improvement for the boost online docs. At first glance, you only think on the search features, but it's more than that. You as a software provider, get stats on user searches, which can be used to improve the search and the documentation.

That is indeed very useful (as also would be an intelligent automatic index,  something else we haven't quite cracked yet, despite John's promising effort).

I find that the pdf provides a built-in near-equivalent search of the whole document, something that I find really, really useful when reading my own docs (Math and SVG_plot - both 500 pages long!)

So I don't think it is essential to have exactly the same features for both.

Of course, on the original topic, it would still be very nice to have better ways of dealing with equations, always hard work.

As a MS Word user, it would seem natural to use its equation editor (rather than yet another utility - however good - to install)  - but how you get the actual equation out, I have no knowledge yet.

Might not be what you want, but you can always create the equation in word and paste it into MathJax code, since word can export in mathml format.

Paul

--- Paul A. Bristow, Prizet Farmhouse, Kendal LA8 8AB  UK +44 1539 561830  07714330204 pbristow@hetp.u-net.com

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