m |
m (→$\TeX$ and $\LaTeX$) |
||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
$$x_{1\atop 2}=-{b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\over 2a}$$ | $$x_{1\atop 2}=-{b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\over 2a}$$ | ||
| − | This is the modern notation. It has not always been so neat and structured, being overlayed all over the place with parts of it which extend over others, etc., but it has always required going beyond mere text (and that includes numbers). In particular, in Science, we use a lot Greek letters. | + | This is the modern notation. It has not always been so neat and structured, being overlayed all over the place with parts of it which extend over others, etc., but it has always required going beyond mere text (and that includes numbers). In particular, in Science, we use a lot Greek letters. We actually also need it without science, for instance because we're Greek and want to read the news on the Internet in our language. For that, technology has developed a new technology, which is the extension of ASCII and is known as [[unicode]]. It allows to display characters from other languages, e.g., [https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%95%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1 Greeck], [https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F Russian], [https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%8E%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD Chinese], etc. It also covers for a myriad of other characters, from chess ♙♘♗♖♕♔♚♛♜♝♞♟ to road signs ⛔ 🚫 ⚠ ☡ passing by mathematical symbols iħ∂ₜψ(r,t)=[-(∇²/(2m))+V]ψ, and a myriad of things you probably don't need (like a super-asterix ✺ or Groucho Marx's glasses ᅘ). The temptation to encode other fonts has not been resisted. 𝓘𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝔂 𝓳𝓸𝓫 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱? And this remains highly limited for proper math encoding. Compare with the real nice way to write Schrödinger's equation: |
| + | |||
| + | $$i\hbar\partial_t\psi(r,t)=\left(-{\nabla^2\over 2m}+V\right)\psi$$ | ||
| + | |||
| + | Someone worried about computer's inability to render beautiful math equations when computers started to take up the job of typesetting. [[Donald Knuth]] was then working on [[the Art of Computer programming]], an encyclopedia of algorithms and code writing. But when he saw how horrible was the result, he decided to put this on hold and to write a program to typeset text beautifully with a computer. He started the TeX project, which he thought would take him a few months, but turned out to take about 9 years instead!{{cite|knuth-kyotoprize}} | ||
We have approached how computers display bitmaps on a screen, or store this information on a file. We have seen ASCII and this covers for text, which is already a huge part of what we need to communicate. But Latin alphabet is short of advanced applications. It's good enough for the news, maybe for literature, but how about science? Let's have a look again at one of the oldest equations which humanity has dealt with:
$$x_{1\atop 2}=-{b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\over 2a}$$
This is the modern notation. It has not always been so neat and structured, being overlayed all over the place with parts of it which extend over others, etc., but it has always required going beyond mere text (and that includes numbers). In particular, in Science, we use a lot Greek letters. We actually also need it without science, for instance because we're Greek and want to read the news on the Internet in our language. For that, technology has developed a new technology, which is the extension of ASCII and is known as unicode. It allows to display characters from other languages, e.g., Greeck, Russian, Chinese, etc. It also covers for a myriad of other characters, from chess ♙♘♗♖♕♔♚♛♜♝♞♟ to road signs ⛔ 🚫 ⚠ ☡ passing by mathematical symbols iħ∂ₜψ(r,t)=[-(∇²/(2m))+V]ψ, and a myriad of things you probably don't need (like a super-asterix ✺ or Groucho Marx's glasses ᅘ). The temptation to encode other fonts has not been resisted. 𝓘𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝔂 𝓳𝓸𝓫 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱? And this remains highly limited for proper math encoding. Compare with the real nice way to write Schrödinger's equation:
$$i\hbar\partial_t\psi(r,t)=\left(-{\nabla^2\over 2m}+V\right)\psi$$
Someone worried about computer's inability to render beautiful math equations when computers started to take up the job of typesetting. Donald Knuth was then working on the Art of Computer programming, an encyclopedia of algorithms and code writing. But when he saw how horrible was the result, he decided to put this on hold and to write a program to typeset text beautifully with a computer. He started the TeX project, which he thought would take him a few months, but turned out to take about 9 years instead![1]
Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found