examples solicited

I would very much like to concretize some of our discussion around
several appropriately selected examples.  As a first approximation to
such a collection, I solicit from each of you a few (2 to 5)
documents or other bundles of information, each of which contains
mathematical information which html-math should be able to encode
"properly".  Please annotate the material as you see fit.

My own contribution will be in the form of some AMS journal articles.
I will also try gathering material for the K-14 level, although I
welcome contributions in that area as well.

Of course our questions will be: (a) what information should be
encoded within each document or bundle to achieve our desired ends?
and (b) how do we encode that information?  We all understand that
problems are wider than simple examples can exhibit in isolation, but
I think there will be value in developing a set of canonical examples
on which to base discussion.  We can attempt to give more weight to a
subset of examples by indicating multiplicity factors (e.g. 5 pages
from Mathematical Reviews might be accompanied by a note indicating
the number of reviews published annually).

After an initial collection is obtained, we should assess its
representative nature.  If some further sense of "the field"
is needed, we will gather examples to give a better balance.

I'm willing to wait until we meet in Cambridge for those of you who
would find, say, bringing a book along easier than photocopying
several pages, but I do want to assemble this material and send it to
all WG members as a reference collection.  Please take the time to
contribute.

I also recognize an ultimate need to abstract from a collection of
examples to achieve some systematized approach for meeting our goals.
This doesn't lose track of that ultimate need, but I hope helps to
provide a basis for common understanding.

-Ron



email: rfw@ams.org

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