DragMath

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Introduction

DragMath is a free "drag and drop" equation editor. It is a Java applet which can simply run within a web browser on most computers.

The editor lets users build up mathematical expressions in a traditional two dimensional way, and then output the results in a correctly formed syntax. This is not so easy: mathematical notation contains some ambiguities. Still, we appear to be stuck with traditional notation for the foreseeable future, see for example this article for some comments on notation. This gives some idea of the design of DragMath.

Integrations with a VLE such as Moodle

Moodle is a free, open source course management system (CMS). If you are interested in using DragMath with Moodle, or a similar system such as LonCAPA, etc then please review the DragMath and Moodle page or the more general Integration page before downloading.

Output Formats

Dragmath can output a mathematical expression in many formats. The supplied output formats are MathML, LaTeX, Maple, Maxima. It is also possible to convert the expression to almost any user defined style by creating an XML file with the correct syntax data in it. Details of how to do this are included in the documentation.

Languages

Although mathematics is less dependent on language than many things, the applet loads a language file which makes it possible to translate DragMath into other languages. DragMath has currently been translated into: Catalan, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Turkish, Spanish and Swedish. The latest language files can be downloaded from here.

Export to Image

DragMath makes use of the MathTran service to automatically convert expressions to images. More details of MathTran available at www.mathtran.org

DragMath has a project on SourceForge.net, an open-source software development web site. This allows users to:

To obtain the source code you need to check out the module "ddma" from the sourceforge CVS. For example, you can use the CVSROOT:

:pserver:anonymous@dragmath.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/dragmath

You are very welcome to use and modify this source code within the terms of the DragMath license. If you would like to contribute your changes please email the developers directly.

Download

Download the latest version - version 0.7.9. See the version history here.

DragMath requires Java 1.4.2 or later. If you do not have it, you can download it from www.java.com.

Contact

Project leader
Chris Sangwin
Website: http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/C.J.Sangwin/
Email: C.J.Sangwin@bham.ac.uk

Developer
Alex Billingsley
Website: http://www.alexbillingsley.co.uk/
Email: email@alexbillingsley.co.uk