Editing tool for math equations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11238754-B2
Application number	US-201916373521-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2019
Priority date	Apr 2, 2018
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

The present invention automatically replaces in an assessment response a string of mathematical symbols determined to be ambiguous with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols. An editing tool may receive an assessment response from a client over a communication network. The assessment response may comprise i) a text with a mathematical meaning and ii) a string of mathematical symbols. The text and the string of mathematical symbols represent different non-overlapping characters in the assessment response. The editing tool may match the string of mathematical symbols with a known ambiguous string of mathematical symbols and determine the mathematical meaning in the text of the assessment response. The editing tool may replace the string of mathematical symbols determined to be ambiguous with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols to generate an updated assessment response. The editing tool may transmit the updated assessment response to the client for display.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An editing tool configured to automatically replace in an assessment response a string of mathematical symbols determined to be ambiguous with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols, comprising:
a receiver in communication with a client for receiving characters transmitted from the client over a communication network;
a transmitter in communication with the client for transmitting a display to the client over the communication network;
a database running on a hardware server; and
a computer processor, wherein the receiver, the transmitter, the database and the computer processor are configured to:
receive over the communication network from the 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;

compare in real-time the string of mathematical symbols with a plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, that are stored in the database, that are known to have two or more possible meanings,
match 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 has a first possible meaning and a second possible meaning,
read 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,
parse the text that conveys the mathematical meaning and match at least one of the first plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text or match at least one of the second plurality of determinative phrases to a part of the text,
read 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,
replace in the assessment response 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
transmit the updated assessment response to the client for display.

2. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein each of the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols is associated with a plurality of possible meanings, each of the plurality of possible meanings is associated with one or more determinative phrases and each of the one or more determinative phrases is associated with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols.

3. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein the database comprises the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein each of the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols is associated with a plurality of possible meanings based on a math level of a user entering the assessment response, each of the plurality of possible meanings is associated with one or more determinative phrases and each of the one or more determinative phrases is associated with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols.

4. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein the assessment response is an answer entered by a user in response to a math question displayed on the client as part of an online educational class.

5. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein a wild card character replaces a number in the string of mathematical symbols before comparing the string of mathematical symbols with the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols.

6. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein the receiver, the transmitter, the database and the computer processor are also configured to:
transmit the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols to the client for a user to approve; and
upon a detection of an approval from the client, replace the string of mathematical symbols with the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols in the assessment response.

7. The editing tool of claim 1 , wherein the received, the transmitter, the database and the computer processor are also configured to:
transmit the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols to the client for a user to approve; and
upon a detection of a rejection from the client, the string of mathematical symbols is not replaced with the unambiguous string of mathematical symbols in the assessment response.

8. 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.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the database comprises the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein each of the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols is associated with a plurality of possible meanings, each of the plurality of possible meanings is associated with one or more determinative phrases and each of the one or more determinative phrases is associated with an unambiguous string of mathematical symbols.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the database comprises the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols, wherein each of the plurality of ambiguous strings of mathematical symbols is associated with a plurality of possible meanings based on a math leve

Assignees

• Pearson Education Inc

Inventors

• Deland Donald
• Dooley Samuel
• Eggers-Robertson Lisa
• Garcia Michael J
• Mcquilkin Charles
• Ostler Wayne
• Ramirez Jennifer
• Setaro James

Classifications

• G06F40/111

  Mathematical or scientific formatting; Subscripts; Superscripts · CPC title

• G09B7/00 Primary

  Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers (mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F) · CPC title

• G06F40/205

  Parsing · CPC title

• G06F40/151

  Transformation · CPC title

• G09B19/02 Primary

  Counting; Calculating (abacus G06C1/00) · CPC title