Towards a Web-based Progressive Handwriting Recognition Environment for Mathematical Problem Solving

The emergence of pen-based mobile devices such as PDAs and tablet PCs provides a new way to input mathematical expressions to computer by using handwriting which is much more natural and efficient for entering mathematics. This paper proposes a web-based handwriting mathematics system, called WebMath, for supporting mathematical problem solving. The proposed WebMath system is based on client-server architecture. It comprises four major components: a standard Web Server, Handwriting Mathematical Expression Editor, Computation Engine and Web Browser with Ajax-based Communicator. The Handwriting Mathematical Expression Editor adopts a progressive recognition approach for dynamic recognition of handwritten mathematical expressions. The Computation Engine supports mathematical functions such as algebraic simplification and factorization, and integration and differentiation. The Web Browser provides a user-friendly interface for accessing the system using advanced Ajax-based communication. In this paper, we describe the different components of the WebMath system and its performance analysis.