Math information retrieval: user requirements and prototype implementation

  • Authors:

  • Jin Zhao;Min-Yen Kan;Yin Leng Theng

  • Affiliations:

  • National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore;National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore;Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

We report on the user requirements study and preliminary implementation phases in creating a digital library that indexes and retrieves educational materials on math. We first review the current approaches and resources for math retrieval, then report on the interviews of a small group of potential users to properly ascertain their needs. While preliminary, the results suggest that meta-search and resource categorization are two basic requirements for a math search engine. In addition, we implement a prototype categorization system and show that the generic features work well in identifying the math contents from the webpage but perform less well at categorizing them. We discuss our long term goals, where we plan to investigate how math expressions and text search may be best integrated.