MathLex: A Web-Based Mathematical Entry System

Mathematical formulas are easy to convey in handwritten media, but how should they be represented in electronic format? Unfortunately, mathematical content has not been as well-implemented on the Web as images and video. There are two sides to this problem: display and input. The former has been solved in multiple ways by representing formulas as images, MathML, or LaTeX (via MathJax). Representing math input is much more difficult and is the subject of this thesis. The goal is to enable users to enter complex formulas. Unfortunately, existing languages either are too complex for an average user (difficult to learn and/or read), only work in a particular environment (they have system and browser compatibility issues), or lack certain math concepts. Some do not even retain mathematical meaning. This thesis presents MathLex, an intuitive, easy-to-type, unambiguous, mathematically faithful input language and processing system intended for representing math input (and potentially display) on the web. It aims to mimic handwritten math as much as possible while maintaining semantic meaning