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IBM Enhances Browser Plug-in for Displaying Technical Formulas on the Web

To help publishers, scientists, engineers and teachers to interact with technical documents distributed electronically over the Internet, IBM announced additional capabilities to its techexplorer Hypermedia Browser, Professional Edition 3.0.

As a plug-in for Web browsers, IBM techexplorer reads and translates technical formulas that are written in expression codes of standard mark-up languages such as TeX, LaTeX and Mathematical Mark-up Language (MathML). The software dynamically formats and displays the scientific equations within documents on the Web. The user will view the symbols that comprise a nicely-formatted equation rather than the hieroglyphics of the expression mark-up language.

New capabilities include support for: the Macintosh** platform; XML behaviors in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5; an Active X control for creating technical documents with equations in most Windows*** applications; and Document Object Model -- a standard that allows users to change instantly the math within the equation. IBM techexplorer 3.0 provides an easier solution for printing and managing file size compared to alternative bitmap-based equation solutions.

"IBM techexplorer 3.0 is the first standards-based platform for interactive scientific and technical publishing on the Internet," said Angel Diaz, senior researcher and manager, Advanced Internet Publishing Group, IBM Research. "It provides a common, front-end framework enabling business and academic communities to interact with math and science content on the Internet."

As part of today’s announcement, IBM has established relationships with two new business partners that are tailoring their applications to work with IBM techexplorer and extending the reach of this solution to technical professionals within business and academic communities. These business partners are:

• MathSoft, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., a preferred IBM partner, will license one million copies of IBM techexplorer Professional Edition Version 3.0 over the next three years. MathSoft will integrate IBM techexplorer with its line of engineering and education products, including: Mathcad, a worldwide standard application for performing calculations in the engineering and technical markets; and the StudyWorks product line, which boasts the market-leading math title and the market-leading high school science title in America. As part of the agreement, MathSoft and IBM will collaborate on the development of the next generation of MathSoft products to enable the publishing of interactive math content as HTML with MathML. MathSoft will drive new, widespread market adoption of techexplorer in important technology and education markets, including college campuses, corporations and institutions around the world, and even high school classrooms and homes. For more information, visit http://www.mathsoft.com/press/ibmmathsoft.html

• Wolfram Research, Inc., creators of Mathematica, a world-leading technical computing system, has partnered with IBM to provide techexplorer users access to Mathematica technology from their Web browsers. IBM techexplorer 3.0 users are able to use Wolfram Research's MathLink technology to have formulas in typeset documents automatically computed in Mathematica. Wolfram Research has announced that the upcoming release of Mathematica 4.1 includes a menu option allowing users to save Mathematica notebook documents directly in techexplorer format. Mathematica also automatically accepts MathML expressions of the kind provided by techexplorer, making cut-and-paste from the Web as easy for math as it is for text. Wolfram Research is a driving force in the MathML initiative, having authored many parts of the MathML standard, and hosting the MathML International Conference 2000. To learn more, visit http://www.wolfram.com/news/techexplorer.html