A report on OpenMath

Abstract

The proliferation of general purpose mathematical software and specialized mathematical libraries has provided a wealth of computing resources for students, scientists, and engineers. The challenge remains to harness the power of these independent software tools within a single framework. OpenMath will provide formats and a protocol for the exchange of mathematical expressions and objects, thus enabling a unification from a user's point of view. This work will also allow the inclusion of mathematical objects in a universal format within databases and electronically published scientific and technical documents.This report will detail the steps taken to date by the OpenMath Consortium to achieve the aforementioned goals. In particular, §2 provides an overview of OpenMath. Emphasis is placed on OpenMath's design goals, initial target applications, and Consortium structure. In §3, an exposition of the levels of the OpenMath model which maps mathematical concepts to their respective concrete representations is provided. Some issues that arise when a mathematical object is transcribed between its visual form and internal representation are presented in §4. Finally, §5 and §6 communicate the current state of the OpenMath prototyping efforts and concomitantly detail the future directions of the OpenMath consortium.