Introduction
PMathGen will generate a nice LaTeX and optionally PostScript worksheet for math problems. Download it and read the manual for details, but until then the examples below should give you a sufficient idea. I hacked this out just to make some math worksheets, many years ago. You could write a much nicer program with fewer bugs, less code, and more options, in a language like O'Caml or Haskell, but I don't tutor in math anymore anyhow. Anyone who wants to maintain this code is welcome, though you may as well write your own.
News
4/13/2003
pmathgen 0.1.0 released
I have managed to find time this weekend to add some nice features:
A file format, so lessons can have titles, and sections, and instructions, and can be saved and recreated randomly again.
More fine grained control over minimum and maximum numbers in problems.
Cleaner LaTeX code that is easier to modify either within the PMathGen file format or after it is generated.
Better documentation, including the file format and customization instructions.
I've also decided to use the linux kernel's versioning scheme, even though it isn't that important. The middle number is odd, so this is a development version. My milestone for 1.0/stable is to have rudimentary single-variable, polynomial, algebra equations.
2/21/2003
The new name of the project is PMathGen, short for Perl MathGen. Huzzah!
2/20/2003
This news item is about http://www.mathgen.com
This clearly predates my little script by years; I just think it is amazing that I chose the exact same name. Well, I guess with the next release I will change the name to OpenMathGen, or some such thing. Too bad, really, since both of us agree that MathGen is the best name for it.
Also interesting is that despite their slightly greater flexibility, they generate much uglier worksheets, with broken division and multiplication symbols.
If you are a teacher, and would prefer some of the features that their product has, please email me (kknowles at uclink dot berkeley dot edu) so I know that they are a high priority, and I will implement them (otherwise I might not, because I am taking 4 grad courses at UC Berkeley this semester)
I would hate to be the reason you used proprietary software instead of Free Software .
2/14/2003
pmathgen 0.0.2 released
Made script actually obey ./configure arguments for latex and dvips.
Added runtime -latex and -dvips options, so the ./configure arguments are now just a default, not set in stone (plus it now tries everything in your path as a backup)
Added --quiet, -q option to suppress annoying latex and dvips output.
Added a couple of more user-friendly messages to the build process.
2/13/2003
pmathgen 0.0.1 released
This is the initial release of pmathgen. All basic functionality you might expect is included.
Screen Shots
$ pmathgen ./examples/basic.math (view postscript)
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$ pmathgen (view postscript)
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$ pmathgen --count=50 --min=100 --max=500 --operators=+,/,*,- (view postscript)
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$ pmathgen --format=h --count=200 --min=10 --max=90 --operators=+,/,*,- (view postscript)
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Downloads
4/13/2003
2/14/2003
2/13/2003