Moodle Plugins directory: ShortMath | Moodle.org

ShortMath
Plugin is looking for new maintainers. I am not presently able to update the plugin for Moodle 4, but if you want to make pull requests in github I shall be happy to include them and/or pass on the ownership.
What is it?
The plugin is based on the short answer question type, but the students enter their response in a maths editor. The student interface is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).
The editor interface is provided by MathQuill, which produces LaTeX code that is used as the internal representation. Rendering relies on MathJax which provides mathematically correct visual rendering.
ShortMath has been designed for use with JazzQuiz, where auto-grading is not used. However, if desired, auto-grading based on syntactic string match on the LaTeX code is supported.
See also
Documentation
Documentation is available here, including installation instructions.
Feedback
Project lead: Hans Georg Schaathun hasc@ntnu.no
Developer: André Storhaug andr3.storhaug@gmail.com
Exactly how configurable do you want it to be?
We are working on a similar front-end interface on top of STACK where we have implemented a couple of alternative toolbars, and I think we can copy that feature across fairly easily. It would be rather limited configuration possibilities though.
I would like to define which symbols will be visible in the symbol menu, according to the needs of the question.
I will try the STACK plugin, maybe it will be a solution ...
Thank you.
We have made a fork of STACK, here: https://github.com/KQMATH/moodle-qtype_stack
The fork has a similar GUI frontend to ShortMath. We are (have been) in dialog with the STACK team about integration, but they are in the middle of a massive refactoring exercise. It will make more sense, and be easier, to add GUI formula editing after the refactoring. Unfortunately, it takes longer than we originally hoped.
Our fork is still very limited with respect to the desired customisation, but since we are hoping to integrate with the official STACK, we are not motivated to improve it until we know and risk double work in the integration later.
When it comes to ShortMath, it was created for a particular use case, namely JazzQuiz. My experience from class was that ASCII coding of formulæ worked very well in practice, and the GUI was not really necessary. Admittedly, I did not auto-grade, so the ASCII coding did not have to be consistent. Nevertheless, I can see what we can do over the summer.
There is a problem with ShortMath questions. I don't know if it is a problem that my administrator can solve or not (I already contacted) but I post the problem here too.
I can't duplicate quizzes with a ShortMath question (dmlreadexception error). The problem is that I also can't make a course backup with the question bank (same error).
Does anyone know how to solve it? I want to help my administrator with some information about it.
But unfortunately I have a problem. I added a button to the default template and I want to delete it, 'cause it doesn't work properly. Is there a way?
2 quick questions: 1. How do you modify the templates? I tried to add in new buttons, but only blank ones show up. 2. Will this plugin be updated for 4.1? Thanks for sharing your great work with the Moodle community!
Was able to get the question to recognize simple formulas, like the period of a pendulum: T=2\pi\sqrt{\frac{L}{g}}
However, once I try to do something more complex, I can't quite get the ShortMath question type to do the pattern match correctly.
For example, for the initial velocity of a bullet shot into a block of wood for a ballistic pendulum, I was trying to code in the following:
v_{o}=\sqrt{\frac{2g(L-Lcos\theta)(M+m^{2})}{m}}
When I preview the question and have Moodle fill in the correct answer, and then hit "check", it gets marked wrong--I copied and pasted what Moodle puts in the preview window and this is what comes up:
v_o=\sqrt{\frac{2g(L-L\cos \theta )(M+m^2)}{m}}
When I put that in as a second answer choice, Moodle still doesn't recognize it as an answer and marks it wrong.
I then tried to use the ShortMath toolbar to enter the equation, and this is the code that comes up:
v_o=\sqrt{\frac{2g\left(L-L\cos \theta \right)\left(M+m^2\right)}{m}}
....also gets marked incorrectly, and then when I put it in as a 3rd answer choice Moodle still can not recognize it.
Any tips? Overall, a brilliant tool for inputting math into Moodle--THANK YOU for sharing your great work with the Moodle community!
If some colleague in my own department expresses a need, I will look into it, but the use case for which we created ShortMath no longer exists, so it is highly unlikely.
If somebody wants to make the effort, I shall be happy to help, and accept pull requests in github and/or transfer ownership in the plugin directory.
If you need any support or further customization, feel free to contact me at: waeldukhan@gmail.com