RE: [html-bidi] Any bidi requirements for MathML (or MathMl in HTML)?

Hi, Ehsan, Aharon, all:
> From: ehsan@mozilla.com
> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:06:09 -0400
> To: aharon@google.com
> CC: addison@lab126.com; bert@w3.org; public-i18n-bidi@w3.org
> Subject: Re: [html-bidi] Any bidi requirements for MathML (or MathMl in HTML)?
>
> The situation is exactly the same for Persian: math formulas are
> written from left-to-right. I suspect that the same is true for
> Arabic as well, but I'll defer the final confirmation to a native
> speaker.
>
> --
> Ehsan

Arabic digits were discussed in a thread at internationalization: 
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-international/2009AprJun/0081.html
 
Apparenty phone numbers are written left to right and numbers have their most significant digit on the left; not sure that they are always typed left to right however.
 
I should wait to see if Najib has anything to add to this since this was a 2009 thread.
 
Best,
 
C. E. Whitehead
cewcathar@hotmail.clom
 

>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 4:28 PM, Aharon (Vladimir) Lanin
> wrote:
>> Traditionally, formulas in Hebrew mathematical publications are always
>> written left-to-right. The Israel Standards Institute is in the midst of
>> considering the question of whether to break with his tradition. Although a
>> final decision has not yet been made, it looks like the answer will
>> basically be no: math will continue to be written left-to-right.
>>
>> For Arabic, on the other hand, the answer may be quite different, but I know
>> little about it.
>>
>> Aharon
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 5:52 PM, Phillips, Addison
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Bert,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the note. I have added this to our WG agenda for this week.
>>>
>>> Addison
>>>
>>> Addison Phillips
>>> Globalization Architect (Lab126)
>>> Chair (W3C I18N, IETF IRI WGs)
>>>
>>> Internationalization is not a feature.
>>> It is an architecture.
>>>
>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: public-i18n-bidi-request@w3.org [mailto:public-i18n-bidi-
>>>> request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Bert Bos
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 6:33 AM
>>>> To: public-i18n-bidi@w3.org
>>>> Subject: [html-bidi] Any bidi requirements for MathML (or MathMl in
>>>> HTML)?
>>>>
>>>> This is a somewhat vague question, and also rather late, given that
>>>> MathML3 is as good as finished (it's a Proposed Recommendation),
>>>> but I
>>>> just wondered if anybody has thought about math...
>>>>
>>>> The html-bidi[1] draft talks about requirements on HTML and CSS. It
>>>> doesn't mention MathML, although the current MathML also has bidi
>>>> support. And in the current plans for HTML5, MathML will be an
>>>> integral
>>>> part of the HTML language.
>>>>
>>>> Are there no additional requirements on MathML?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The problem of bidi isolation at least doesn't seem to occur in
>>>> MathML:
>>>>
>>>> Section 3.1.5[2] of MathML3 describes the bidi features of MathML.
>>>> It is
>>>> possible to set the overall direction of a formula as well as the
>>>> base
>>>> direction of individual tokens.
>>>>
>>>> Changing the overall direction acts almost like a mirror, e.g., "a
>>>> + b"
>>>> is written as "b + a" and superscripts (aČ) are written on the left
>>>> of
>>>> their base (Ča).
>>>>
>>>> Tokens are symbols (+, =), numbers (12, 0.5), letters (x, y), words
>>>> (sin, cos), or phrases ("such that," "theorem 1"). Setting a
>>>> direction
>>>> on tokens should rarely be needed, the inherited direction and the
>>>> Unicode bidi algorithm are usually enough.
>>>>
>>>> Unlike in HTML, each token is "directionally isolated" (in the
>>>> terms of
>>>> html-bidi WD), so a BDI attribute is not needed.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/WD-html-bidi-20100304/
>>>> [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML3/chapter3.html#presm.bidi
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Bert
>>>> --
>>>> Bert Bos ( W 3 C )
>>>> http://www.w3.org/
>>>> http://www.w3.org/people/bos
>>>> W3C/ERCIM
>>>> bert@w3.org 2004 Rt des Lucioles / BP
>>>> 93
>>>> +33 (0)4 92 38 76 92 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
>>>> France
>>>
>>
>>
>

Received on Tuesday, 17 August 2010 23:18:12 UTC