MathPad2: A System for the Creation and
Exploration of Mathematical Sketches
MathPad2 is a prototype Tablet PC application for
mathematical problem solving. At the core of its functionality is
the novel concept of mathematical sketching, making dynamic
illustrations by combining handwritten mathematics and free-form
diagrams. MathPad2 is designed so a user can create
simple illustrations as if they were working with pencil and
paper. Teachers can use MathPad2 to quickly create
illustrations to be used in their lessons and students can use the
application to aid in their studies.
As examples, the screenshot above shows a mathematical sketch
for a damped harmonic oscillator. The handwritten mathematics is
associated to the drawing using a simple gestural user
interface. The diagram will animate according to this mathematical
specification. Users can also change system parameters to see how
the oscillator is affected under various conditions. The
screenshot below shows MathPad2's graphing capability.
Users can simply write down mathematical expressions and graph
them using a simple line gesture.
MathPad2 is still in its infancy and we are continuing
to explore a number of different research areas such as more
sophisticated mathematical expression recognition, parsing, and
error correction, better gestural user interfaces for linking
diagrams to math, diagram labeling, and, higher levels of interactivity.
Publications
LaViola, J. "Advances in Mathematical Sketching: Moving Toward the
Paradigm's Full Potential", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications,
27(1):38-48, January/February 2007.
LaViola, J. "An Initial Evaluation of
a Pen-Based Tool for Creating Dynamic Mathematical Illustrations",
In the Proceedings of the Eurographics Workshop on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling 2006,
157-164, September 2006.
LaViola, J. "Mathematical Sketching: A New Approach to Creating and Exploring Dynamic Illustrations", Ph.D. Dissertation, Brown University, Department of Computer Science, May 2005.
LaViola, J. and Zeleznik, R. "MathPad2: A System for the Creation
and Exploration of Mathematical Sketches", ACM Transactions on
Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2004), 23(3):432-440, August
2004. (Download a video of MathPad2 in action.)
Popular Press
MathPad2 has been featured in a number of articles including
Information Week - August 9, 2004.
ZDNet UK - March 3, 2004.
PC World - October 29, 2003.
Featured Presentations
MathPad2 has also been shown in presentations given
by
Bill
Gates at the 2004 Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting - July 29,
2004.
Rick
Rashid at the 2003 Microsoft Professional Developers Conference
- October 29, 2003.
Joseph LaViola
Last modified: Thu Sep 7 00:45:04 EDT 2006