Have you seen this…? DragMath – a Java applet for inputting mathematics

Traditional written mathematical notation takes advantage of a rich set of special symbols, together with their relative size and position on a two dimensional page. The utility of this is obvious, as many have commented. “Examples of the power of a well contrived notation to condense into small space, a meaning which would in ordinary language require several lines or even pages, can hardly have escaped the notice of most of my readers”… DragMath is a Java applet which is an “equation editor” through which the user builds up mathematical expressions in a traditional two dimensional way by dragging and dropping appropriate components into the desired position. A simple parser is included so that parts of an expression can also be typed. The applet can also be started with an initial expression which is parsed in this way. This parsing is not so easy: mathematical notation contains some ambiguities, such as the classic example of deciding whether “x(t+1)” is multiplication or function application… Once the user is happy, the expression can be exported in a correctly formed syntax. DragMath can export in LaTeX, presentation MathML, Maple syntax and Maxima syntax. The results are either copied to the clipboard ready to be pasted elsewhere or JavaScript obtains the output from the applet for use in a web-based application. DragMath has been designed so that it is relatively easy to create a “format file” which contains details of the way in which an expression should be exported. This would allow a user to modify existing formats to fit their preferences and needs, or to create a new format entirely. The applet does not need to be recompiled to use new output format files. Expressions can be saved and re-loaded i