Mathprobe: active mathematical dictionary
Carolyn R. Watters, Jack Ho · Multimedia Information Retrieval · 1994
Retrieval and hypertext browsing capabilities are well-established for textual data particularly where the structure is apparent within the text. Dictionaries are an excellent source of textual information that can be defined by an established and expected structure that includes: entry word, etymology, pronunciation, body of definition, see also references, and possibly source references. A grammar can be written that describes the contents of such a text and that can then be exploited to facilitate retrieval and hypertext linkages for browsing. In this paper we will discuss our work using a grammar to extend the structural definition of dictionary entries to include mathematical expressions. The understanding and definition of structure for mathematical expressions provides an additional level of power to online mathematical dictionaries. MathProbe is a prototype active dictionary that provides interactive browsing and computation features for a dictionary of mathematical terms. The prototype dictionary uses xdvi as the display engine and Maple as the computation engine. The user can browse and read entries in the dictionary and execute instances of expressions used in those entries to assist, by example, understanding of the definitions or in the course of related activities of the user.