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Re: e 2.71828
- From: Ed Nixon <ed dot nixon at LynnParkPlace dot org>
- To: Zack Brown <zbrown at tumblerings dot org>,Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo at metalab dot unc dot edu>
- Cc: docbook at lists dot oasis-open dot org
- Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 09:56:22 -0400
- Subject: Re: DOCBOOK: e 2.71828
- References: <p04330103b8d7674ed448@[192.168.254.4]> <oawv9jbmm4.fsf@arroz.fake><shwv9hf2zc.fsf@tux.gnu.franken.de> <oavgp0hrhn.fsf@arroz.fake><shsnk3dajo.fsf@tux.gnu.franken.de> <oa66gw2zwg.fsf@arroz.fake><shpub0yctv.fsf@tux.gnu.franken.de> <p04330105b778f282f2b3@[192.168.254.4]><p04330103b8d7674ed448@[192.168.254.4]>
Is this the point where some ignorant soul asks why there isn't a MathML
way of correctly inserting a mathematical constant into DocBook documents?
I believe MathML is at minimum a switch that can be turned on with the db
distribution? Is correct?
thanks. ...edN
At 06:15 AM 09/04/2002 -0700, Zack Brown wrote:
>On Mon, Apr 08, 2002 at 10:33:00AM -0500, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> > I have a need to include the mathematical constant e, 2.71828..., the
> > base of the natural logarithms, in a book I'm writing. According to
> > the Unicode folks, they have no special character for this and none
> > is needed. I should just use the normal ASCII e. That's simple enough.
> >
> > In typesetting a mathematical constant of this nature is normally
> > italicized so it's not just plain text. How should I represent this
> > in DocBook?
> >
> > <inlineequation>e</inlineequation> is not valid because the
> > inlineequation element can't contain PCDATA.
> >
> > The best I can figure is
> >
> > <inlineequation>
> > <inlinemediaobject>
> > <textobject>
> > <phrase>e</phrase>
> > </textobject>
> > </inlinemediaobject>
> > </inlineequation>
> >
> > which really seems excessively complicated.
>
>Couldn't you just define an entity that would include all that markup for
>you without all the noise?
>
> > Going to MathML seems
> > even worse. Is this really the best I can do?
> > --
> >
> > +-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
> > | Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
> > +-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
> > | The XML Bible, 2nd Edition (Hungry Minds, 2001) |
> > | http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/bible2/ |
> > | http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0764547607/cafeaulaitA/ |
> > +----------------------------------+---------------------------------+
> > | Read Cafe au Lait for Java News: http://www.cafeaulait.org/ |
> > | Read Cafe con Leche for XML News: http://www.cafeconleche.org/ |
> > +----------------------------------+---------------------------------+
>
>--
>Zack Brown