More notation?!

[svda...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

Anyone know a good way to include scalar and vector products in a mathematical expression answer? 

E.g. if I am asking about the acceleration of a charged particle moving in a magnetic field, the answer might be (q/m)*(vec:v x vec:B) where 'x' is a cross/vector product. 

I've seen plenty of examples for evaluating the components of a vector product, or the value of a scale product. Just none where the answer is expressed as a product. 

[cross(vec:v, vec:B) is a valid JME expression. But this is not a valid mathematical expression for a gap fill answer.]

Cheers,

Simon

[Christian Lawson-Perfect]

Can you explain what you mean by "this is not a valid mathematical expression for a gap fill answer"?

I've just made a question with a mathematical expression part whose answer is "cross(vec:a, vec:b)", and it looks like it works fine: https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/question/share/view/8f3c0c1b-f5f8-4ce4-b3ea-db9e81c60e8f

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[Simon Vaughan]

HI Christian,

Thanks. Ok, that worked easier than I thought. 

I had previously tried dot( , ) and cross( , ) in a gap fill just to see if they parsed. E.g. I put 'dot(vec:a, vec:b)' or cross(vec:a, vec:b)' into a box expecting 'x^2' and got the error 'Your answer is not a valid mathematical expression. No definition of 'dot' of correct type found..'. As it was marked invalid, not incorrect, I assumed there must be another convention to use. Something about setting the answer to include a cross( , ) or dot( , ) must ensure these get recognised. 

Cheers,

Simon

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Cheers,

Simon

[Christian Lawson-Perfect]

Ah, the problem is that Numbas has to pick a type for the free variables in the answer, in order to do the numerical comparison. It uses the expected answer for this, so when it's 'x^2', vec:a and vec:b aren't used, so it uses the default type: real number. I suppose that it could use the annotation as a hint!

I think we need to show a more useful error message. Adding a bit to explain the type of the free variables would help the question author, e.g. "No definition of 'dot' of correct type found; The variables are interpreted as: vec:a - number; vec:b - number.". That's too technical for a student though.

I thought I already had an open issue on GitHub about error messages produced by the mathematical expression part, but apparently not. I've made one now: https://github.com/numbas/Numbas/issues/848. I'd really like to improve them, because I think it's an important part of the student's interaction with Numbas.

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