Add \overline to Math to Basic Math Equation Editor

[waz107]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

I am resubmitting part of an idea that was proposed last month by Glenn Johnson, Place x-bar and p-hat on the Equation Editor toolbar.

I teach introductory statistics and one of the most common symbols that we use is an x with a bar over it, the symbol for a sample mean.

Currently, this symbol can only be created in the advanced equation editor:

This requires knowledge of LaTeX.  The vast majority of my students are not statistics majors so they have no experience with LaTeX and it's really extraneous to the course so I don't want to spend too much time teaching it to them.

It would be awesome if the \overline function was added to the basic equation editor which is easier for students to use.

[James]

When I try to focus on concepts instead of formulas and calculations, I write that as "The mean is what you get when you add up all the values and divide by the number of values."

[sweetera]

Check out the WIRIS app/LTI.

It is much easier to use and has the advantage of building UDA accessibility "alt tags" automatically into the code as you work--if that is a goal at your school.

[brian_hoffman]

This is the most pressing need in the equation editor for my students.  As stated by others, my students lack experience with LaTeX and getting them to communicate in "mathematicalese" is difficult when they don't have the basic tools at hand.

[thompsli]

I teach 7th and 8th grade math (among other things) and would also like this feature so students can use it with repeating decimals. I am really, really not going to teach my middle schoolers LaTeX (as tempting as I find the idea every time I have a fight with an equation editor).

To be useful to me, it would need to work with more than one symbol/digit (\overline rather than \bar) so that it could deal with the scenario where more than one digit repeats. (Dealing with converting fractions such as 1/7, which has the digits 142857 repeating rather than just fractions such as 1/3 with 3 repeating.)

[Renee_Carney]

We appreciate you, and the submission of your idea. Your dialogue helps our product teams prioritize feature development. Unfortunately, this idea has been archived because it did not meet the 100-vote threshold within the 3-month voting period. Learn more at: How does the voting process work for feature ideas?

Can archived ideas still become a feature? Potentially, yes. Archived ideas can be resubmitted by Community members. As people’s needs change, previously submitted ideas may gain additional traction. Feature ideas are evaluated as a whole and influence product direction.

[Renee_Carney]

This idea is one of the lucky ones that was selected to get a little more time for voting as part of our evolution of the feature idea process.   It was selected because of it's vote count and/or comment thread.  

*Selection criteria: Most (not all) ideas that received 70+ votes in their initial voting round.

[siouxgeonz]

I've heard people say "oh, Canvas just isn't good for math."   Let's give fewer reasons for this!

[kroeninm]

Thanks sweetera‌, we stumbled across the paid version of Wiris the other day and found it does EVERYTHING we want it to do when we added it as an LTI to a course.  I thought Canvas used Wiris but it must be a slightly different version.  It had a limitation of I think 1000 equations or something for the free version so we aren't exploring much deeper right now but I would love to see this one replace the existing editor :smileyalert: 

- Melanie

[sweetera]

Melanie,  

The existing tool in Canvas is LaTex.  Wiris seems to be much easier overall and has a strong advantage for the "alt tags" for accessibility for a blind person's JAWS reader. These tags take countless hours and an expert-level knowledge of Math input code to build otherwise. 

[shawnjackson]

I have my students type out the words p-hat and x-bar those statistics unfortunately. Just adding those two to the pallet would help out a lot. Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to Canvas?