Re: How do I encode negative numbers in content MathML?

Interesting that you should ask just now, I have been stumbling over the 
same thing a couple of days ago. The difference becomes interesting when 
you try to do presentation with bracket elision.

The general idea is that when we have

<apply>
  <or>
   <apply><and><ci>a</ci><ci>b</ci></apply>
   <apply><and><ci>c</ci><ci>d</ci></apply>
</apply>

which should give a /\ b \/ c /\ d since /\ binds more strongly than \/.

In such situations you want to have -(a+b), i.e. the unary minus 
operator needs brackets but -1, i.e. the unary minus operator does not 
here.

Michael

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juanrgonzaleza@canonicalscience.com wrote:
> The chapter 4 of MathML 2.0 specification is far from precise at this point.
>
> Moreover, the tutorial
>
> [http://cnx.org/content/m9008/latest/]
>
> recommends next code
>
> 	  <m:math>
> 	    <m:apply>
> 	      <m:minus/>
> 	      <m:ci>x</m:ci>
> 	    </m:apply>
> 	  </m:math>
>
> to representing the negative of a variable, and recommends
>
> <m:math><m:cn>-1</m:cn></m:math>
>
> for the negative of a number.
>
> Whereas the next MathML tutorial
>
> [http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/mmlprime.pdf]
>
> says
>
> <blockquote>
> Although <cn>-37</cn> is valid, using minus is sometimes more clear.
>
> <math>
> <apply> <minus/>
> <cn> 37 </cn>
> </apply>
> </math>
> </blockquote>
>
> What is the difference if any between both encodings?
>
> What may be preferred? (I personally prefer unary usage of <minus/>)
>
>
> Juan R.
>
> Center for CANONICAL |SCIENCE)
>
>
>
>
>