Editing tool for math equations

A method for automatically replacing in an assessment response a string of mathematical symbols determined to be ambiguous with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols, comprising the steps of:

• receiving by an editing tool over a communication network from a client an input signal comprising a sequence of one electronic character at a time of an assessment response, wherein the assessment response comprises:
• i) a text that conveys a mathematical meaning and
• ii) a string of mathematical symbols, wherein the text and the string of mathematical symbols represent different non-overlapping characters in the assessment response;
• comparing by the editing tool in real-time the string of mathematical symbols with a plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols that are stored in a database that are known to have two or more possible meanings;
• matching by the editing tool the string of mathematical symbols with an ambiguous string of mathematical symbols in the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein the ambiguous string of mathematical symbols is known to have a first possible meaning and a second possible meaning;
• reading by the editing tool a first plurality of determinative phrases associated with the first possible meaning and a second plurality of determinative phrases associated with the second possible meaning from the database;
• parsing by the editing tool the text that conveys the mathematical meaning and matching at least one of the first plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text or matching at least one of the second plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text;
• reading by the editing tool from the database an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols based on whether the at least one of the first plurality of determinative phrases or the at least one of the second plurality of determinative phrases matched a part of the text;
• replacing in the assessment response by the editing tool the string of mathematical symbols that has been determined to be ambiguous with the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols to thereby generate an updated assessment response;
• and
• transmitting by the editing tool the updated assessment response to the client for display.

A method for automatically replacing in an assessment response a string of mathematical symbols determined to be ambiguous with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols, comprising the steps of:

• receiving by an editing tool an assessment response, comprising one character at a time in sequence from a client over a communication network, wherein the assessment response comprises:
• i) a text comprising a mathematical meaning and
• ii) a string of mathematical symbols, wherein the text and the string of mathematical symbols represent different non-overlapping characters in the assessment response;
• comparing by the editing tool in real-time the string of mathematical symbols with a plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols that are stored in a database that are known to have two or more possible meanings;
• matching by the editing tool the string of mathematical symbols with a known ambiguous string of mathematical symbols in the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein the ambiguous string of mathematical symbols is known to have a first possible meaning and a second possible meaning;
• reading by the editing tool a first plurality of determinative phrases associated with the first possible meaning and a second plurality of determinative phrases associated with the second possible meaning from the database;
• determining by the editing tool the mathematical meaning in the text of the assessment response;
• parsing by the editing tool the text that conveys the mathematical meaning and matching at least one of the first plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text or matching at least one of the second plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text;
• reading by the editing tool from the database an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols based on whether the at least one of the first plurality of determinative phrases or the at least one of the second plurality of determinative phrases matched a part of the text;
• replacing by the editing tool in the assessment response the string of mathematical symbols determined to match the known ambiguous string of mathematical symbols with the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols to thereby generate an updated assessment response, wherein the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols has the mathematical meaning determined from the text of the assessment response;
• and
• transmitting by the editing tool the updated assessment response to the client for display.