This section describes what's new in MathJournal 2.0.
Function library:
The library of mathematical functions expands from about 20 to 150, including advanced mathematics favorites like Airy, Bessel, Hilbert, and more.
Details: See Function library.
Keyboard-based controls:
When you need leave the pen-enabled world and return to the world of keyboard input, MathJournal 2.0 provides the Text control and the Console control.
Details.
MathJournal 2.0 is text-aware. Because MathJournal 2.0 is text-aware it intelligently responds to several types of text when you paste text into the workspace:
When you paste this type of text:
You see this result in the MathJournal workspace:
MathML code
Ink math expression
Tab-delimited numbers
Ink matrix
Simple text
Text control
Note: MathJournal 2.0 is Ink-aware, too. When you drag Ink into a Text control the Ink is converted to text.
Context menu:
The new context menu in the MathJournal workspace provides quick access to commonly-used operations.
Details.
Use the one of the following options to access the context menu: press-hold gesture, right mouse click, pen-barrel button click, or press context-menu key.
The new context menu in the MathJournal workspace provides quick access to the following operations:
Launch the Solver menu
Convert handwriting to MathML
Change stylus modes
Cut, copy, paste, and delete
Insert Animation, Text control, or Console control
Console control only: The Simplify Numerically menu item allows you to generate a numeric solution immediately. Otherwise, you can press the Enter key while the Console control is active to generate a list of all Solver options.
MathML:
MathJournal 2.0 complies with the MathML 2.0 standard and provides several improvements.
Details.
Quick conversion MathML to Ink and Ink to MathML.
Better printing options for typeset MathML expressions.
MathJournal uses the MathML 2.0 specification to output math expressions in the MathML tab.
In the Workspace tab:
Paste MathML. MathJournal converts it to Ink.
Select the Convert to MathML item in the new context menu of the MathJournal workspace. Convert to MathML converts the current handwritten math expression to MathML.
In the MathML tab:
Tap Copy Picture to copy to the Windows Clipboard a picture of the page containing the MathML expression. The screen shot captures only what is visible in the window.
To print the MathML expression, tap and hold in the MathML page and select Print in the resulting popup menu.
Copy Data:
Copy data from graph or animation controls to use in spreadsheet applications.
Details.
While a graph control or an animation control is active, you can select Copy Data in the Edit menu to copy the raw data. The data goes to the Windows clipboard in tab-delimited format. You can insert this format into spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel or other applications.
Note: You can also paste sets of tab-delimited numbers from the Windows Clipboard into MathJournal. For example, when you copy sets of numbers from Excel, the set is tab-delimited. When you paste the set into MathJournal workspace, the numbers are converted to Ink and arranged in a matrix.
Graph gestures:
You can zoom on a Graph control as follows: Draw a square gesture using a single stroke around the area of interest in the plot.
Details.
Previously the Square gesture enabled you to make the length of the axes of a 2D plot identical. Now you use the Double-Circle gesture to make the length of the axes of a 2D plot identical.
Other plot gestures are unchanged:
The Triangle gesture "auto-fits" the axes to show all plot data.
The Tap gesture displays the graph coordinates at the point where you tap.
Inking:
Inking options changed to make problem-solving more convenient.
Details.
Former product behavior
New, equivalent product behavior
Press the button on the pen-barrel to toggle two of the stylus modes: Pen and Selection tool.
Press and hold with the pen to access the context menu, and select any of stylus modes: Pen, Eraser, Highlighter, or Selection tool.
Note: Pressing the button on the pen-barrel and tapping the screen now invokes the context menu.
None.
Drag Ink into a Text Control. MathJournal converts the Ink to text.
The current selection is solved when you tap the Solver tool.
The most recent selection is solved when you invoke the solver. In other words,
An expression is selected.
You deselect it.
You press the Solver tool.
The Solver recognizes the expression that had been selected in Step 1. *
* This new, equivalent action enables the following scenario for a power user:
Select an expression to solve.
Press the pen-barrel button and tap to access the context menu. The expression is deselected.
Select Solve in the context menu. MathJournal recognizes the expression that had been selected in Step 1.
Select the solution type you want in the Solver menu.
Highlighter tool:
The Highlighter tool is always available in MathJournal 2.0.
Details.
In previous versions of MathJournal, the highlighter was available in the Annotation mode. For the following reasons, xThink developers agreed with users who suggested that MathJournal developers eliminate the Annotation mode:
The Select and Solve option, described in Editing a problem, is more popular and intuitive than toggling between the former Annotation mode and Math mode.
MathJournal recognizes Highlighter strokes as a separate class of Ink. Highlighted can never be confused with mathematical expressions, regardless of where and when you write them.
Math teachers need to digress and emphasize key points during a teaching session. The highlighter tool must be readily available so that the teacher's presentation.
Miscellaneous enhancements:
MathJournal 2.0 provides the following miscellaneous enhancements:
The file format is enhanced in MathJournal 2.0 so that it can provide new features. You can open .xtm files from previous versions of MathJournal files in MathJournal 2.0. However, you cannot open MathJournal 2.0 files in older versions of MathJournal.
In the Definitions tab you use a single list box to manage all definitions including scalars, intervals, functions, vectors, and matrices. Previously, the Definitions tab provided separate list boxes for variable definitions and for function definitions. The Common Constants control has not changed.
Auto-hide buttons appear in workspace controls:
Details.
As always in MathJournal, the controls that you insert in the workspace have move, size, and close buttons. These buttons are now hidden even when the control is active. To access the buttons, hover over the corners of a control. At all other times the buttons are invisible to ensure that the content of a control is not covered by the button. These buttons are provided in the following controls: 2D Graph, 3D Graph, Animation control, Image control, Console control, and Text control.
Details.