AI seminar: A preliminary report on the MathBrush pen-math system

Speaker: David Tausky

In this talk, I will describe our prototype pen-based system for entering and manipulating mathematical expressions, currently called MathBrush. MathBrush allows a user to enter mathematical expressions with an electronic stylus and to then perform mathematical computations using a computer algebra system such as Maple. The talk will first outline the challenges involved with recognizing mathematical expressions. Next, I will provide an overview of our system, and describe how we have overcome some of these challenges. I will also address what challenges remain, the status of our current research and how it relates to some AI-type problems. Finally, I will demonstrate MathBrush in action. This talk is based on work done by myself and George Labahn, Scott MacLean, Mirette Marzouk and Ian Rutherford from the Symbolic Computation Group.