Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

latex2html5.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 26 posts

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#3

Post by thearn4 »

Mathematician here. The interactive stuff is cool, but besides that the page was a bit unclear on something simpler - is this something I can use to render static LaTeX expressions to decent looking (ie. better than standard latex2html) display equations dynamically in a browser?

I can go the route of latex -> png -> embed in html, but that does get tedious.

edit: looking at the source, it does appear to be the case:

"[...]if $\hat{x}(t) = \sum \limits_{k=0}^{M-1}\alpha_k \Psi_k$, where $x$ is a $p$-periodic signal[...]"

very cool. Though maybe I'm just easy to please.

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#4

Post by troymc »

thearn4 wrote: post #3

Mathematician here. The interactive stuff is cool, but besides that the page was a bit unclear on something simpler - is this something I can use to render static LaTeX expressions to decent looking (ie. better than standard latex2html) display equations dynamically in a browser? I can go the route of latex -> png -> embed in html, but that does get tedious. edit: looking at the source, it does appear to be the case:…

It uses MathJax to do the equation rendering, see:

http://www.mathjax.org/

The diagrams are rendered to SVG (vector graphics, supported by all modern web browsers).

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#5

Post by acadien »

I wish there was a way to do this in PDF. If PDFs weren't these cumbersome static things it could really change how information is spread in the sciences. At least in my field the current mode for disseminating information is nearly 100% through downloading PDFs from journals, which inherently prohibits interactivity and dynamic visualizations.

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#6

Post by sqrt28 »

aroberge wrote: post #2

For working scientists, engineers and mathematicians, that are already familiar with LaTeX, this seems to be an easy and natural path to achieve (part of) the vision of Bret Victor.

Working scientists, engineers and mathematicians probably have not heard about Victor and his vision, at least I have not. Glancing over his homepage, it seems his is into dynamic visualizations, so his vision probably has something to do with that.

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#7

Post by xanmas »

acadien wrote: post #5

I wish there was a way to do this in PDF. If PDFs weren't these cumbersome static things it could really change how information is spread in the sciences. At least in my field the current mode for disseminating information is nearly 100% through downloading PDFs from journals, which inherently prohibits interactivity and dynamic visualizations.

I'm trying to push my research group to release our papers as iPython notebooks and it looks like my next paper will be. Our text will be rendered as normal markdown and our figures will be live figures with all the code that we used to generate them. This way, if anyone wants to check our work, extend it, or just better understand it, they're more than free to do so. It should be a nice step forward in the ultimate goal of reproducible science.

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#8

Post by chm »

aroberge wrote: post #2

For working scientists, engineers and mathematicians, that are already familiar with LaTeX, this seems to be an easy and natural path to achieve (part of) the vision of Bret Victor.

I don't understand why he doesn't release the source for his applications.

Re: Author interactive math equations and diagrams online using LATEX and PSTricks

#9

Post by asdfologist »

chm wrote: post #8
aroberge wrote: post #2

For working scientists, engineers and mathematicians, that are already familiar with LaTeX, this seems to be an easy and natural path to achieve (part of) the vision of Bret Victor.

I don't understand why he doesn't release the source for his applications.

Maybe he wants to monetize it? Nothing wrong with making a living.
Post reply on HN