Maths Equations Creator

[oneilllj]

My Maths team are having a lot of issues with the equation creator in RCE as it doesn't have all the functions they need. I am currently looking into MathType as an LTI, however, as that can have a cost, it isn't necessarily our best course of action.

These are the issues, they are experiencing - any feedback or guidance would be appreciated.

At the moment, some significant gaps in what we can type on CANVAS are:

• Matrices (Year 10-12 General and Specialist Maths)
• Vectors (Year 11-12 Specialist Mathematics)
• Combinatorics probability (Year 10-12 Methods and Specialist Maths)
• Log functions (Year 10-12 General, Methods and Specialist)
• Trig Functions (Year 9-12 all subjects)

… and they’re just the things my team has pointed out to me as they have tried to type up the learning intentions in canvas.

They also find it frustrating that there is no automatic equal signs aligner.

Also – most teachers know the basic ‘LaTeX’ code for really common maths terms – ie \cap is the mathematical ‘and’ symbol for probability. However, CANVAS doesn’t allow this – it is making it really really slow to type up the maths because they have to keep going into the menu to insert these symbols.

[James · Accepted solution]

@oneilllj 

You can type LaTeX directly into Canvas and bypass the equation editor completely. Use \ ( and \ ) as delimiters. Canvas uses MathJax for display, although not the most recent (which may have issues) version.

Note there is no space between \ ( and \ ), but the community software recognizes the LaTeX as well and it wouldn't come through if I didn't space it out.

[James · Accepted solution]

@oneilllj 

You can type LaTeX directly into Canvas and bypass the equation editor completely. Use \ ( and \ ) as delimiters. Canvas uses MathJax for display, although not the most recent (which may have issues) version.

Note there is no space between \ ( and \ ), but the community software recognizes the LaTeX as well and it wouldn't come through if I didn't space it out.

[oneilllj]

That is an option, but it also means staff need to know how to code in LaTeX as well.

For now, I think we will keep doing what we can, which also includes using MS word and uploading documents that way.

Thanks for your help

[James · Accepted solution]

@oneilllj, you made it sound like your people knew some basic LaTeX. With some guidance, they could probably learn the parts they need fairly quickly.

You can use the equation editor and then switch to directly edit LaTeX when it becomes necessary.

When I last taught College Algebra, the way I got around the Canvas limitation was to give students a page with templates for different size matrices that they could copy/paste and then edit using the Direct Edit mode.

You can also use Wiris MathType (formerly Design Science MathType). It has an integration with Canvas, but it's commercial. I stopped using it when Wiris bought Design Science and started charging a subscription instead of owning the software. It's $61.95 per user/per year with a 20% discount for academics. That's an individual license. You can integrate into Canvas starting at $1.06 per student/per year (minimum purchase required).

There's also CodeCogs. It has an editor that supports a lot more then the Canvas one. For a matrix, you generate a template that you can then fill in manually. You then copy/paste that code into Canvas. 

When I used MathType for Word (pre-Wiris), it was more visual and showed what it would look like. Their demo makes it look almost identical to the older MathType, so it probably still is. You could then copy/paste it as LaTeX into whatever you needed. I cannot speak to how it has changed. I think CodeCogs menu is too busy for normal users in Canvas and they would have trouble finding what they want for all the options that are available. They do have a free version of up to 1000 equations per day (probably more of an issue if you link to their website)

There are other packages out there similar to MathType or CodeCogs; those are just the first two that came to mind.

Word's equation editor is more powerful than Canvas', but still not as powerful as LaTeX.

The decision of whether to include Word documents directly or try to put it into Canvas is not a clear-cut one. Canvas is probably more accessible, but they keep on shrinking the font size so things become unreadable. At least you can use the MathJax zoom feature. Word is arguably easier to use. Since I know enough LaTeX to be dangerous, Word's equation editor (anything with a mouse) actually slows me down.