[Lowerbounds, Upperbounds]

After reading a comment at Lance Fortnow’s blog, I suppose I should write more about Computer Science. To do that, first I followed the steps of our friendly alumus Andrej Bauer and installed ASCIIMathML.

The actual syntax of ASCIIMathML is not exactly LaTeX as the author Peter Jispen wants a syntax that is

1. close to standard mathematical notation
2. easy to read
3. easy to type

Oh well, so much for the dollar signs. (But let me note that LaTeX syntax is supported to some degree.)

If you are using IE, then you need to install MathPlayer. If you are using Firefox, you want to visit the MathML page at Mozilla.org. In particular, you will need to install the fonts from their Fonts page.

Here is an example copied from the ASCIIMathML page for testing.

Solving the quadratic equation.
Suppose `ax^2+bx+c=0` and `a!=0`. We first divide by `a` to get `x^2+b/ax+c/a=0`.

Then we complete the square and obtain `x^2+b/ax+(b/(2a))^2-(b/(2a))^2+c/a=0`.
The first three terms factor to give `(x+b/(2a))^2=(b^2)/(4a^2)-c/a`.
Now we take square roots on both sides and get `x+b/(2a)=+-sqrt((b^2)/(4a^2)-c/a)`.

Finally we move the `b/(2a)` to the right and simplify to get
the two solutions: `x_(1,2)=(-b+-sqrt(b^2-4ac))/(2a)`

Now we are one step closer to make this blog more relevant to its title.