AsciiMath page: how to represent "text" in equations

[ronaldtse]

if the user writes (by accident) an additional quotation mark in math mode, like this: stem:["some text""] (notice the additional quotation mark at right) the compiler doesn't generate a new output (and doesn't tell you what went wrong).

It happenned to me, and it took me a while to discover where the error was. So, I thought it could be helpful to spread the info.

We should explain the AsciiMath syntax on metanorma.com, especially since it somewhat differs from asciimath.org in implementation.

Originally posted by @manuel489 in https://github.com/metanorma/metanorma-standoc/issues/128#issuecomment-537735750

[opoudjis]

... in fact, this is documenting the Asciidoctor/Asciimath gem, which is not our job, it's Asciidoctor/Asciimath's.

Failing that, perhaps someone other than me can peruse the Asciidoctor/Asciimath source code, and write this up.

[opoudjis]

So, this task is to add a page to metanorma.com, documenting the differences between AsciiMath as documented on http://asciimath.org, and AsciiMath as implemented in https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciimath, which is what we use. It will involve going through the code, and listing the AsciiMath commands that are not included in asciimath.org, such as the font commands like ii.

It also should document common gotchas. (A longstanding gotcha: the asciidoctor/asciimath parser is more insistent than the asciimath.org parser about needing to include parentheses in expressions to group parts of it: I found that very early on with fractions.)

This is a page that will be included under author/ref/.

[strogonoff]

Just to chime in for a bit—yeah, if it’s in reference-like format then it should be under author/ref. I’d recommend using existing references (document attributes namely) as a framework for how to structure the new page.

[tgolubev]

Hi All! Here is my attempt to document the differences:

Differences between asciimath.org and https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciimath/blob/master/lib/asciimath/parser.rb:

Operation Symbols:

parser.rb:

• '\\' => {:value => '\', :type => :operator}

asciimath.org:

• '\' TeX alt: backslash setminus See: \

---

Miscellaneous symbols:

Missing from asciimath.org:

• 'dx' => {:value => 'dx', :type => :identifier},
• 'dy' => {:value => 'dy', :type => :identifier},
• 'dz' => {:value => 'dz', :type => :identifier},
• 'dt' => {:value => 'dt', :type => :identifier},
• '...' => {:value => '...', :type => :operator},
• '\ ' => {:value => "\u00A0", :type => :operator},
• 'qquad' => {:value => '\u00A0\u00A0\u00A0\u00A0', :type => :operator},
• 'lim' => {:value => 'lim', :type => :operator, :underover => true},
• 'Lim' => {:value => 'Lim', :type => :operator, :underover => true},

---

Relation symbols

Missing from asciimath.org:

• ':=' => {:value => ':=', :type => :operator},

---

Logical symbols

All are the same.

---

Grouping brackets

Present in asciimath.org but not in parser.rb:

• abs(x) |x|
• floor(x) ⌊x⌋
• ceil(x) ⌈x⌉
• norm(vecx) ||\vec{x}||

---

Arrows

All the same

---

Accents

Missing from parser.rb:

• overset(x)(=)
• underset(x)(=)
• color(red)(x)
• cancel(x)

---

Greek letters

Lots of capital greek letters missing from asciimath.org:

• 'Alpha' => {:value => "\u0391", :type => :identifier},
• 'Beta' => {:value => "\u0392", :type => :identifier},
• 'Epsilon' => {:value => "\u0395", :type => :identifier},
• 'Zeta' => {:value => "\u0396", :type => :identifier},
• 'Eta' => {:value => "\u0397", :type => :identifier},
• 'Iota' => {:value => "\u0399", :type => :identifier},
• 'Kappa' => {:value => "\u039a", :type => :identifier},
• 'Mu' => {:value => "\u039c", :type => :identifier},
• 'Nu' => {:value => "\u039d", :type => :identifier},
• 'Rho' => {:value => "\u03a1", :type => :identifier},
• 'Tau' => {:value => "\u03a4", :type => :identifier},
• 'Upsilon' => {:value => "\u03a5", :type => :identifier},
• 'Chi' => {:value => '\u0393a7', :type => :identifier},

---

Standard functions

All the same

---

Font commands

Missing from asciimath.org

• 'ii' => {:value => :italic, :type => :font},
• 'bii' => {:value => :bold_italic, :type => :font},
• 'bcc' => {:value => :bold_script, :type => :font},
• 'bfr' => {:value => :bold_fraktur, :type => :font},
• 'bsf' => {:value => :bold_sans_serif, :type => :font},
• 'sfi' => {:value => :sans_serif_italic, :type => :font},
• 'sfbi' => {:value => :sans_serif_bold_italic, :type => :font},

[opoudjis]

OK, thank you for this.

I need this comparison turned into an Asciidoc page to be added to metanorma.com; please work with @strogonoff to do so:

So, this task is to add a page to metanorma.com, documenting the differences between AsciiMath as documented on http://asciimath.org, and AsciiMath as implemented in https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciimath, which is what we use.

• Our format is Asciidoc. Copy one of the existing pages.
• We need you to list the commands, and what they mean; definition lists are fine, but they need to be text, not source code. For example: bsf:: bold sans serif font.
• List separately the additions to asciimath.org in the asciidoctor parser, and the subtractions.

[opoudjis]

@tgolubev I am concerned that I have not heard back from you on this task in the past week. I have created a page for you to populate with the required information, in branch feature/asciimath : https://github.com/metanorma/metanorma.com/blob/feature/asciimath/author/ref/asciimath.adoc . Please populate it as requested with specifics of the differences between asciimath.org and Asciidoctor Asciimath.

[tgolubev]

@opoudjis I have copied over the differences to asciimath.adoc, but I am not sure about the desired formatting since I am not familiar with Asciidoc formatting. I apologize, but it seems that it would be more efficient if someone skilled with Asciidoc does the final formatting. (My skills with math editing are in LaTeX.)

[opoudjis]

Ok, thank you, I'll take it from there.