## why is there a need to use and ∑ notation?

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why is there a need to use and ∑ notation?

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1 month 2021-08-21T14:13:22+00:00 2 Answers 0 views 0

Using TeX Notation

Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 2.2. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version is available here: Using TeX Notation.

While there are quite a few notational systems employed for the purpose of representing Math notation, Moodle core provides a TeX filter that can be configured to employ identified latex, dvips and convert binaries to display a gif or png representation of a Tex expression (and hopefully will soon be able to take advantage of newer Tex distributions which will rely on latex and dvipng.) The Moodle core Tex filter falls back to the use of MimeTex if these binaries can’t be located. Note that the core TeX filter is not the only way to display Tex expressions in Moodle and the discussion of Mathematics tools address a variety of other solutions. Additionally, the results obtained from the Moodle Tex or algebra filters are dependent on the Tex binaries you have installed.

If you use the Moodle native TeX Notation, you have to realize that this is not the only way of using TeX in Moodle and there are quite a few other “flavors” in the Tex world. You must also accept that the Moodle implementation of TeX is very limited, and a lot of things that work in other varieties of TeX and Latex will not work in TeX Notation. For example, there are three major Tex modes, but the Moodle core Tex filter employs only one. To make matters even more confusing, Moodle Docs now use Tex Live, which uses the delimiters $statement$ to denote TeX statements, yet these pages demonstrate the use of tokens, the $$statement$$ token, that implement TeX in Moodle’s native TeX Notation. Essentially, what may work in one Tex implementation, may not work in another – yet a lot of the actual maths coding is exactly the same, no matter how it is denoted.

TeX itself is felt by some to present a significant learning curve, and the internet offers a number of tutorials. A.J. Hildebrand, a Math professor at UIUC offers resources and a tutorial here that you may find helpful. However, the basics of TeX can be mastered quite quickly.

There are a number of Maths tools available and probably one of the more useful tools for using Tex in Moodle (or elsewhere for that matter), is Dragmath which will allow you to use a GUI constructor to build your expression, and then insert it in the format you choose.

There is now, for Moodle 2.x, and Advanced Maths Tools plugin.