Re: Next Steps for RTL Math

Hello,
Please, let me present some comments. I tank that:
- It’s preferred to speak about “Mathematical presentation in an in an
Arabic alphabet based script » that can be abbreviated by Arabic
mathematics, instead of RTL math or RTL language.

- I am not sure that a single attribute is enough to control layout
direction. Such confirmation needs more investigation.
Of course, one of the particularities of the Arabic mathematics is the RTL
direction of writing. In addition, there are some Arabic mathematical
symbols with a representation that has nothing to see with the Latin based
equivalent symbol. This requires probably the introduction of new elements
into MathML. In some mathematical expressions, either component’s order
inversion and/or glyph’s inversion are not enough to obtain the Arabic
equivalent expression. Then, a particular treatment is necessary.

We are working on a new version of Dadzilla (Mozilla’s version for Arabic
mathematical expressions with MathML). The same names of already existing
MathML elements can be used after specifying the environment by a single
attribute. But, some problems are not yet solved. In particular, the
choice of fonts in order to have the two mathematical presentations (Latin
and Arabic) in the same document and the necessity of the use of the
element <rl> introduced for the specification of RTL direction still
remain unsolved.

- Another issue can be the automatic translation of expression.

There is probably a huge viable market for Arabic script based languages
mathematics software. There should be more than 450 millions of potential
users for such materiel. The use of computers in education is rapidly
growing all over this local area.

I am agreeing with the others points.

 For all helps,
Azzeddine LAZREK

Received on Saturday, 4 December 2004 11:13:43 UTC