Getting the Internet Ready
for Mathematics
Benton Leong, Waterloo
Maple Inc.
March 25, 1997 at 3:30
p.m.
Davis Centre, Room 1304, University of Waterloo
Abstract
Until recently, the Internet has been
dominated primarily by textually based information. The quick defacto
standardization of universal graphics formats, such as GIF, has
transformed the Web almost overnight, enriching the information that we
can see and use. The current lack of a widely used standard for embedding mathematics
and transmitting mathematical objects hinders better use of the
Internet for technical communications and collaboration. Recent
attempts have been made by the W3C community and by the OpenMath
consortium to build a language for mathematics suitable for communications
on the Web and between products that display, compute, and otherwise use mathematics.
Examples of current progress in Web components for mathematics and embedded math
engines developed by Waterloo Maple Inc. and others will be
demonstrated. These new technologies will simplify the way in which
mathematicians and technical professionals can generate, explore and
share new information.
Biography
Benton Leong is the manager for business
development at Waterloo Maple Inc. His responsibilities include
creating strategic alliances with publishers of technical information
and with producers of scientific software tools. He has been a member
of the original research team at the University of Waterloo that created the
Maple system and is one of the founders of Waterloo Maple. His
interests include user interfaces for professional tools and formal
computation systems.
Waterloo Maple Inc.
Waterloo Maple Inc. is a global leader
in the development of mathematical tools for the technical
professionals. Its Maple V product is used for education and research
in universities and labs throughout the world and has been instrumental
in the calculus reform movement in the U.S. Today, mathematics technologies developed
by Waterloo Maple are used by over a million people in products such as Mathcad, MATLAB,
Scientific Workplace, and new interactive textbooks and interactive technical handbooks.
For more information
Shirley Fenton
The infraNET Project
Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074 Everyone is welcome. Refreshments served.
