Horizontal Math Mode Fix - HParson's side

[geoff-cox]

hparsons block feedback: grade/log/highlight by block indices

hparsons: persist/restore by indices; make math rendering display-only

[geoff-cox]

@bnmnetp @ascholer This is part 2 of math support for horizontal Parsons.

It needs more testing, but any feedback would be welcome.

[bnmnetp]

Thanks @geoff-cox Can you paste a PreTeXt example here that I can use to test? I use the sample-book so if there is an example in another PreTeXt document you can point me there too.

[geoff-cox]

@bnmnetp

Here is the test exercise I used:

<exercise label="horizontal-parson-math-test" language="math">
  <title>Parsons Problem with math blocks</title>
  <statement>
      <p>Testing math mode ...</p>
  </statement>
  <blocks layout="horizontal" randomize="yes">
      <block order="2"><m>\pi</m></block>
      <block order="1"><m>\sum</m></block>
      <block order="4"><m>\beta</m></block>
      <block order="3"><m>\alpha</m></block>
  </blocks>
</exercise>

[bnmnetp]

This looks like it is working fine, once I update the package.json file to use the new micro-parsons.

I think we can merge it, as it is clearly better than what we have, and if we run into bugs later we can deal with them then.

Sound good?

[geoff-cox]

@bnmnetp, Sounds good to me.

Did you also see the update at RunestoneInteractive/micro-parsons-element#2 ?
Just thinking ahead...

To fully support math mode, I think the next big improvement would be to allow:

• multiple correct block sequences, and
• blocks that can start in the dropzone.

This would open the door to constructing formulas, functions, and equations that involve commutative operations.

[bnmnetp]

I merged the micro-parsons-element PR and incorporated that into your PR here. I also changed how we run MathJax over the blocks. See hparsons.js line 192. Now I'm getting good mathjax rendering every time I refresh. Before it was only about 1 out of 5 times that the math was rendering correctly.

Thanks.

[bnmnetp]

I think that to support multiple correct block sequences will require a new grader to be written.

Sounds like a project for a mathematician with coding skills 😄