These groups should hopefully cover most of what a regular mathematician, phycisist, or engineer will need. But what is a "common" symbol? I decided to refer to Wikipedia on this matter, with their excellent Glossary of Mathematical Symbols.įrom this article and based on my own experience, I decided on the following groups of symbols (with a few examples in paranthesis): The goal of the math keyboard is to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible, which means that the symbols that go on the keyboard must be the most commonly used ones. It can also be used to negate symbols (∈∉, ∃∄), or to access uppercase-versions of letters (δΔ, θΘ, σΣ). This is useful for certain symbols like roots (√, ∛, ∜) and integrals (∫, ∬, ∭). We can push this approach even further by allowing certain symbols to have multiple different versions accessible by double-tapping, triple-tapping, or even quadruble-tapping the same button. And by a lucky coincidence we can exactly fit the 26 greek letters by placing two on each button! Perfect. Therefore, by giving up only 3 buttons for Shift, Alt, and Opt, we can fit 6 times as many symbols on the remaining 13 buttons. The same is true for the cyan B-coloumn, which is accessed by holding down Opt. If you hold Shift while pressing the button, you get A. If you hold Alt while pressing the button, you get α, the front-facing symbol. The button is separated into two columns of symbols: A blue A-column, and a cyan B-column. f you simply press the button, you get a. A single keycap showing the locations of the 6 symbols that it can fit. I take advtantage of the fact that the keycaps have a sloped front so one can see symbols printed on the front face. This may sound like it will get confusing very quickly, but I think it'll work fine. They all have numbers and symbols on each button.įor the mathematical keyboard, I decided to fit 6 symbols per button. Just look at the number row, for example. Everyone is already used to the concept of keyboard buttons having more than one symbol. The second solution is a bit more tricky because it requires us to make a decision about which symbols common enough to be granted a spot on the math keyboard. Fit more than one symbol on each button.We have two ways of approaching this problem: Consider that the keyboard only has 16 buttons, while Wikipedia lists hundreds of mathematical Unicode symbols:Ĭlearly, it will not be possible to fit every mathematical symbol on the math keyboard. The apparently simple task of deciding which symbols go where on the math keyboard has been more challenging than I had anticipated. I will be making it all open source, and hope to create something that is actually useful for many people. As I refine the behaviour of the keyboard, I can begin considering changing key layouts and overall design. The current design uses an off-the-shelf macro pad because this allows for rapid development. I want to eventually come up with a design that works seamlessly on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and which can switch between plaintext mode, LaTeX mode, and Math ML mode. It is a 4x4 macro keyboard from 1UP Keyboards with custom firmware. I feel like I would save time if I had a keyboard that could insert the correct symbols, operators, and LaTeX codes automatically. I often write equations, and I have long been frustrated by the amount of time spent looking up special Unicode symbols on Google, clicking around in the Equations Editor in Word and Powerpoint, and looking up LaTeX math codes. The ultimate goal of the Mathboard is to make my life easier.
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