Comments on MathML Last Call Draft (cont'd)

Here are some comments on Chapters 3 and 4. Hope they are useful.

Pankaj Kamthan
--

3.4.2.1

<msub> base superscript </msub> -> <msup> base superscript </msup>

4.2.5.1

Multiple, possibly inconsistent, use of "such that":

3.2.5.4. encodes "such that" as <mo> such that </mo>; the default rendering 
shows the "mirror image of 'belongs to' symbol".

3.3.6.5. encodes "such that" as <mtext> | </mtext>; the default rendering 
shows a pipe symbol ("|").

4.2.5.1 does not encode "such that"; the default rendering shows the "mirror 
image of 'belongs to' symbol".

4.4.3.18. does not encode "such that"; the default rendering shows a colon (":"). 

4.3.2.9 

4.3.2.9 describes NaN as "represents the result of an ill-defined floating 
point division" while 4.4.12.9 describes NaN as "represents the result of an 
ill-defined floating point operation." The latter may be a more accurate 
description.

4.4.1.2

There seems to be no clearly defined "Attributes" section for "ci" (as is for 
other token elements "cn" and "csymbol"). In particular, in 5.3.3, ci uses 
xref as an attribute but that is never described in 4.1.1.2.

4.4.2.7

Consider

A.

<condition>
  <apply>
    <and/>
    <apply><gt/><ci> x </ci><cn> 0 </cn></apply>
    <apply><lt/><ci> x </ci><cn> 1 </cn></apply>
  </apply>
</condition>

B.

<apply>
  <max/>
  <bvar><ci> x </ci></bvar>
  <condition>
    <apply> <and/>
      <apply><gt/><ci> x </ci><cn> 0 </cn></apply>
      <apply><lt/><ci> x </ci><cn> 1 </cn></apply>
    </apply>
  </condition>
  <apply>
    <minus/>
    <ci> x </ci>
    <apply>
      <sin/>
      <ci> x </ci>
    </apply>
  </apply>
</apply>

1. Default rendering of <and/> element is described in 4.4.3.12. However, default rendering of <and/>
in A. and B. are different: "logical and" ("inverted" V) and pipe ("|"). Also, isn't "|" used for
"such that" rather than "and" (for example, in Set Theory)?

2. Shouldn't the markup for x - sin(x) precede that for 0 < x < 1 in B.?

4.4.8

There seems to be a problem in section title/numbering here.

1. There is no subsubsubsubsection on Trigonometric Functions.

2. As with the previous sections, 4.4.8.1 Discussion, 4.4.8.2 Examples, 4.4.8.3 Default Rendering
shouldn't perhaps be sections.

3. This has lead to an "overflow" in terms of number of sections. A possible 
correction could be:

4.4.8.1 Trigonometric Functions

4.4.8.2 Exponential (exp)

4.4.8.3 Natural Logarithm (ln)

4.4.8.4 Logarithm (log)

4.4.12.4

"naturalnumbers represents the set of all natural numbers, ie. non-negative 
integers."

Does "non-negative integers" here mean 0,1,2, ...? A clarification may be 
useful as, depending on (demographic) usage:

1. Non-negative integers 0,1,2, ... are called whole numbers (in some contexts, 
they are also called natural numbers), and 

2. Positive integers 1,2,3, ... are called natural numbers.

Received on Friday, 19 May 2000 12:26:15 UTC