Relevant previous work in this area includes: WebALT [1] and GF-Alfa [2]. Both were built using Grammatical Framework technology.

 

By utilizing <math>LaTeX</math> elements in an XML-based intermediate output format, one could simply copy that mathematical content to the resultant output wikitext [3]. Wikitext utilizes this same convention for mathematical expressions [3].

 

Whether or not to include mathematics in Abstract Wikipedia is an important decision to make at a future point. Choosing to include mathematics would entail discussions about representing mathematical knowledge on Wikidata. It would entail discussions about how specific senses of certain words have mathematical meaning. It would entail discussions about how algorithms should determine when to use mathematical and scientific notations and when they should, instead, use paraphrases with the semantic content expressed using natural language. These are just some of the discussion topics which would arise should we desire to include mathematical and scientific notations in Abstract Wikipedia articles.

 

 

Best regards,

Adam

 

[1] http://mathdox.org/new-web/projects/webalt.html

[2] http://cth.altocumulus.org/~hallgren/Alfa/Tutorial/GFplugin.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Displaying_a_formula

 

From: Adam Sobieski
Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2020 8:51 PM
To: General public mailing list for the discussion of Abstract Wikipedia (aka Wikilambda)
Subject: [Abstract-wikipedia] Natural Language and Mathematics Generation

 

I would like to broach, for discussion, the generation of natural language and mathematics for Abstract Wikipedia. Regardless of the eventual natural language generation approaches, it seems desirable to be able to include mathematics in automatically-generated encyclopedia articles.

 

In the thread: A Document Abstraction Layer [1], it was mentioned that natural language generation algorithms could output to, instead of text strings, a custom XML format which could then be mechanically and configurably converted into intricate wikitext.

 

That custom XML could resemble:

 

<article xmlns="..." xmlns:meta="...">
  <head>...</head>
  <body>
    <section>
      <head>...</head>
      <body>
        <paragraph>
          <sentence>
            <head>
              <meta:provenance>...</meta:provenance>
              <meta:console>...</meta:console>
            </head>
            <body>Next, consider the variable <math latex="x" />.</body>
          </sentence>
        </paragraph>
      </body>
    </section>
  </body>
</article>

 

or:

 

<article xmlns="..." xmlns:meta="...">
  <head>...</head>
  <body>
    <section>
      <head>...</head>
      <body>
        <paragraph>
          <sentence>
            <head>
              <meta:provenance>...</meta:provenance>
              <meta:console>...</meta:console>
            </head>
            <body>Next, consider the variable <math>x</math>.</body>
          </sentence>
        </paragraph>
      </body>
    </section>
  </body>
</article>

 

A <math> element could be of use for expressing mathematical notations in natural language articles. A <math> element with LaTeX syntax could simplify the complex matter of outputting mathematics into wikitext [2].

 

What do you think?

 

 

Best regards,

Adam

 

[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/abstract-wikipedia/2020-July/000151.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Rendering_math