An important topic in mathematics is radicals and roots; so HTML5 MathML provides a feature to write them in the web pages. In this post we try to explain them with some useful examples . . .
Two kinds of radicals exist in MathML, one has just a simple radical shape with an expression below it, and the second has special feature for putting the root of the radical. The following examples show them:
<math xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML’ display=’block’>
<msqrt>
<mi>x</mi>
</msqrt>
</math>
<math xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML’ display=’block’>
<mroot>
<mi>x</mi>
<mn>3</mn>
</mroot>
</math>
They lead to:
As you see, the first form just needs one input tag for the expression below the radical; but in the second form you should insert two tags.
Like other MathML parts, you can group the expressions with ‘<mrow>‘, to have more than one input symbol:
<math xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML’ display=’block’>
<msqrt>
<mrow>
<mi>x</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<mn>4</mn>
</mrow>
</msqrt>
</math>
<math xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML’ display=’block’>
<mroot>
<mn>x</mn>
<mrow>
<mi>y</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<mn>3</mn>
</mrow>
</mroot>
</math>
In the first example we have replaced the expression below the radical with a group; so it would be:
And in the second example, we have used a group for the radical root:
It is usual to use radicals inside each other; here we have made an example to show the ability of MathML for this purpose:
<math xmlns=’http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML’ display=’block’>
<mroot>
<mrow>
<mi>1</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<msqrt>
<mn>x</mn>
</msqrt>
</mrow>
<mn>3</mn>
</mroot>
</math>
It may look confusing but by a short description, everything would be clear. First we have opened a ‘<mroot>‘ tag; so we need two inputs (shown in bold): one for radical main expression and the second for its root. The root is set to ’3′, and the main expression of the radical is replaced by a group (‘<mrow>‘). Inside the group we have three parts: a number, an operator and another radical. The final step is to put the needed input tag of the inside radical. The result looks like:
Up to now, we have finished some features of MathML but many are left; so let’s continue together . . .