Square Root symbol over fill in the blank answers

[JustinDavidson]

In a simplifying radicals fill in the blank question, I can type in the square root symbol just fine for the prompt, but I can't have an answer under the radical. First, is there a way to do this that I've missed? The best I've done is set up a table and have a top border on the answer that is under the radical (thanks @James for help on specific borders). This sort of looks OK, but I'm wondering if there is a better solution. Below is a screenshot of both the question and the code. TIA!

 

 

[James · Accepted solution]

@JustinDavidson 

I would consider just putting a square root in the middle and not putting the vinculum over it. You may even increase the size of the radical to make it more prominent.

Here's how I did that.

<p>Simplify \(\sqrt{24}\).</p>
<table style="width: 8em; margin-top: 1em;">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td style="width: 3em;">`2`</td>
            <td style="width: 1em; font-size: 1.5em;">\(\sqrt{}\)</td>
            <td style="width: 3em;">`6`</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Canvas does not have good support for math content. To mimic the way we write mathematics is very difficult to do. It also breaks a lot of accessibility rules, so Canvas isn't going to enable them. Tables aren't supposed to be used for layouts. CSS doesn't show up to screen readers so they won't "see" the vinculum regardless of what you do.

It doesn't matter to Canvas that you may not have any students that use a screen reader, Canvas is committed to accessibility and creating similar experiences whether a person is using a keyboard or mouse, desktop or phone, monitor or screen reader.

A lot of math teachers want Canvas to be a full-fledge program like MyMathLab, WebAssign, WebWork, or MyOpenMath (list not intended to be complete) that recognizes math content and allows you to enter mathematical expressions. It's not specialized like those programs and I have seen no movement in the 12 years I've been using it towards providing that capability.

It was something that could have been done back when New Quizzes was originally imagined. It was supposed to be an LTI that allowed you to embed questions into other content. It was to allow for flexibility in question types so that new question types could be added. If someone wanted to write a plugin for math content, they would be able to. It's not 4 names later and I forget how many years, but it's very different than what was originally touted.

Many math and science instructors have asked for this over the years. Some want students to be able to enter an equation for their answer and then have Canvas grade the correctness of their image. Back then, it was an image, not LaTeX. Many times I wrote that you cannot grade √2 easily as a fill-in-the-blank question. People could put spaces in it, they could write sqrt(2), 2^0.5, 2^.5, 2^(1/2), 8^(1/6), (3-1)^.5, exp(0.5*ln(2)), and so on. You really need something that is designed to understand math.

You've made some progress towards making it visually appealing, but you're going to run into roadblocks. That suggests that you may have to look for alternative, less written-math, ways to ask the questions.

You can modify the question.

That has the full radical over with the \(a\sqrt{b}\) because it was written with the equation editor / MathJax. It separates their answer.

I generated this with this code.

<p>Simplify \(\sqrt{24}\) and write your answer as \(a\sqrt{b}\).</p>
<p style="padding-top:1em;">a = `2`, b=`6`</p>

It probably would have looked better to put a and b on separate rows.

You could implement restrictions on the width, it's just that table isn't really supposed to be used for that from an accessibility perspective. You could wrap things in a div and specify the width. Using white-space: nowrap will keep the a = on the same line as the input box.

<p>Simplify \(\sqrt{24}\) and write your answer as \(a\sqrt{b}\).</p>
<div style="width: 5em; padding-top: 1em; white-space: nowrap;">
    <p>a = `2`</p>
    <p>b = `6`</p>
</div>

I hate to add the padding, but it seems that New Quizzes runs the text too close together. I don't use New Quizzes much, but another reason for me not to switch. I probably would have added some padding to the bottom of the a = 2 paragraph.

[JustinDavidson]

I initially had what you suggested in the beginning (although the rad symbol was smaller, so thanks for the code for how to enlarge that). I just wanted it to look better. Thanks for the different suggestions and the explanation on Canvas' backend. 

[sheilacunningha]

I am so frustrated.  I am new to Canvas and trying to create a quiz with daily warm - ups that include radical answers.  I see what you have done but do not know where to insert the code you have written.

[James]

@sheilacunningha 

You need to use the HTML view of the Rich Content Editor to make those changes.

There is currently a bug in the HTML view that actually strips any LaTeX code out when you switch to HTML view when editing existing content.

You can create content and switch back and forth between the views, but if you edit an existing page and switch views to HTML, it loses the LaTeX.

You can either (1) make sure to get it exactly right the first time [yeah, I'm laughing at how absurd that is for Canvas to expect us to never make mistakes in something as complicated as HTML code and LaTeX] or (2) make sure that you switch to HTML view before you save it the first time and copy the code to the clipboard. Save that somewhere in a text file. Then, if you need to edit it, you can paste the code back into the HTML view and make changes.

It will keep the code that is created in that editing session if you switch back and forth. It's just when editing existing content and switching to HTML view that it loses it.