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Community Champion

## Cool - Getting Subscripts in Quizzes.Next Fill-in-the-blanks

The fill in the blanks for Quizzes.next doesn't have an html editor or a math editor. However, while tinkering tonight, it turns out that it is very easy to add a subscript. For example, S naught or S_0 in classic doesn't work but it is possible to use the following:

$$S_0$$‍

I made this a discussion in case others have discovered other hidden ways to add math to fill-in-the-blanks. For example, the following didn't work for me (no square root) and maybe someone can explain what I did wrong.

$$sqrt{a^2+b^2}=c^2$$ ‍

I look forward to discovering more!

12 Replies
Community Champion

The $$and$$ invoke math mode in LaTeX.

The square root is \sqrt{} in LaTeX, you're missing the \ in front of the \sqrt.

It's really weird that you would want \sqrt with the Pythagorean identity. I don't use Quizzes.Next, is this getting partial credit for choosing this one?

Canvas also support Unicode, so you may want to look at the subscripts available as Unicode as an alternative: Unicode subscripts and superscripts - Wikipedia

Community Champion

This is a good spot - many thanks for sharing.

As James talked about UniCode, I used https://www.compart.com/en/unicode and saved a whole load of sub and superscripts into a Word document. I have this open when I copy and paste into Quizzes.next or H5P.

Would of course be a whole lot easier if we had RCE from the outset!

Community Champion

Thank you for explaining this is the way to invoke LaTeX!

I was tinkering with ways to improve my questions in Item banks and was trying square root. The Pythagorean was my first thought as I was getting ready to work through a bank of questions on the introduction to vectors. Since I’m a complete newbie to LaTeX then all of this is very exciting!

 $$\vec F=m\vec a$$‍‍

More to learn but I’m feeling tonight like fill-in questions are not so weak after all.

Community Champion

Excellent site Gideon. Thank you!

In terms of H5P, I just started by installing the plugin to a WordPress site, creating the content and embedding it into a Canvas page.

Community Champion

LaTeX is what you had with the advanced mode in the equation editor. There is no advanced mode with MathQuill, the editor used with Quizzes.Next, along with some other deficiencies like lack of matrix support. The addition of $$and$$ is what several people have been asking for in existing quizzes so that they don't have to open up the equation editor.

In LaTeX itself, you can also use $and$ to delimit math content. Canvas probably figured that people would want to use $for a dollar sign without escaping it \$ and so they chose $$and$$ instead. I think when I tested it that the $and$ to open in display mode did not work, but I won't attest to that.

I use LaTeX a lot for generating tests. The LaTeX wikibook is a good starting point, but I often find it easier to Google what I'm looking for and often end up on the TeX StackExchange with answers. I also have MathType by Design Science, since bought out by Wiris, and it as the ability to create LaTeX and then copy/paste it. That didn't work with the old equation editor, but it might be useful with the new one. Recent versions of Microsoft Word now support LaTeX and you can create equations there and copy/paste as LaTeX.

After 5 or so years of writing LaTeX, I rarely find myself using MathType anymore and just writing the LaTeX directly. Word's support is minimal and it has a tendency to botch things, but it works in a pinch or for simple things.

LaTeX is much more than math, although that's normally why you would use it. There are lots of packages available on CTAN, but Canvas doesn't support much of it, including some of my favorites for creating graphs: PGFPlots and Tikz.

Community Champion

"LaTeX is much more than math, although that's normally why you would use it. There are lots of packages available on CTAN, but Canvas doesn't support much of it, including some of my favorites for creating graphs: PGFPlots and Tikz."

After spending a little more time, now I can see why your last sentence is extremely important: creating graphs aren't supported. Drats.

Currently, I'm wanting graphs and having to do them in edraw max, creating an image, then upload them. It would be nice to have a package supported in Canvas.

Community Champion

I hadn't heard of edraw max, but exporting to images and uploading is the approach I use as well. Of course, since I hadn't heard of edraw max, I don't use it (I love logic). I mostly use PGF plots because I'm taking a graph that I was using in a test and creating something similar for Canvas quizzes. I also use that approach with the standalone package to create math equations that I can embed in my Kahoots.

As for ways to get around creating graphs as an image and uploading, two things come to mind. There is a Graph Builder app to create mathematical graphs from within Canvas. I've had students embed a Desmos graph

Community Champion

The Graph Builder was installed last year while I was testing but I've never used it for a "live" course site. Now, I'm going to have to stay up even later tonight and learn something else.

Community Champion

A post on Stack Exchange led me to an online math editor. The video shows graphing and exporting LaTeX. Have you tried it?