[LON-CAPA-users] Using symbols for "infinity" in responses

[Rex Abert]

I was just wondering about whether there is (or should be) a 
"standardized" way to do it.  I have decided that what I will do is use 
a formula response with preprocessing to make student responses 
case-insensitive.

Rex

On 5/26/20 6:13 PM, Justin Gray wrote:
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> Hi Rex,
>
> I see that Purdue has a guide on Entering Math Expressions in LON-CAPA at
> https://www.math.purdue.edu/academic/files/courses/2016summer/MA16010/EnteringMathExpressionsinLON-CAPA.pdf
>
> While it is possible to author questions in LON-CAPA that accept this 
> syntax, I do not believe that this is strict Maxima syntax:
>
> Infinity is written as inf
> Negative infinity is written as minf (though I think -inf will still work)
> The constant pi is written %pi
> The exponential function is written as %e^(x) or exp(x)
>
> ln(x) is written as log(x) - this is confusing to students but you 
> could write a mathresponse problem to redefine ln(x) to be log(x) in 
> the answer algorithm if you want.
> ln(x) is otherwise interpreted as l*n*x which makes accepting 
> equivalent answers difficult.
>
> Best,
> Justin
>
>
>       --
>
>       *Justin Gray*
>       Senior Lecturer | Department of Mathematics
>       Simon Fraser University | SCK 10531
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>
>
> On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 5:34 AM Rex Abert <abertr at tcc.fl.edu 
> <mailto:abertr at tcc.fl.edu>> wrote:
>
>     I am developing some <formularesponse> questions for Calculus I limits
>     at infinity.  Sometimes the answer is +infinity or -infinity,
>     sometimes
>     a constant (horizontal asymptote).  If I set the correct response as
>     "inf" (lowercase), the previewer correctly interprets the symbol as
>     expected.  A guide published by Purdue suggests that all caps
>     should be
>     used, "INF."  I had the answer in a question set as "-inf" and a
>     student
>     entered "-INF" and it was marked incorrect, as Maxima should, because
>     uppercase and lowercase symbols are different to Maxima.
>
>     I guess I am just looking for clarification on a standard way to
>     do this
>     in LC, given the behavior of the javascript previewer.
>
>     --
>     Rex Abert
>     Professor of Mathematics
>     Tallahassee Community College
>
>
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-- 
Rex Abert
Professor of Mathematics
Tallahassee Community College

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