Yellowdig has always been focused on creating the best environment for any academic use case, from English to Biology. With this goal in mind, we have recently improved the LaTeX editor.
Why is the updated LaTeX Editor important?
- It allows students to format equations correctly and more simply.
- It helps students work together to solve problems.
- It allows easily moving back-and-forth between “what you see is what you get” editing and seeing and editing the LaTeX code.
With LaTeX students can easily communicate their questions about problem sets to other students, instructors, and TAs. This is beneficial all the way from intro to Calculus up to Advanced Astrophysics.
Our LaTeX editor has 2 options to make it easy for all users. The Live Editor and the Basic Editor. By flipping back-and-forth between the Live Editor and Basic Editor, a relative mathematics novice can create equations in the Live Editor using familiar keystrokes and an easy-to-use virtual mathematics keyboard while immediately seeing the translation of that work into LaTeX. This provides a nice gentle on-ramp for learning more LaTeX conventions without being frustrating for those newer to more advanced mathematics.
The Live Editor
The first is the live editor where students can create the formula visually in the editor itself. This is great for most formulas that undergraduate students work on. Part of the beauty of creating a formula in the live editor is that as you see it come to life you may notice a mistake you’ve made.
The virtual keyboard is fantastic for adding the special characters needed to create most complex formulas. This keyboard makes it easy to insert any mathematics symbols into the formula the student is working on.
The Basic Editor
The second option is to use the Basic Editor, which is perfect for pasting existing equations in. This feature may come in handy more for graduate students, or even just students who are more accustomed to the basic editor style already.
See the LaTeX Editor in Action
The formula created in the editor is automatically and seamlessly added into the Yellowdig post. This tool can be used in conjunction with text to ask a question, a poll to see who else got the same results, or even emojis to express how proud they are of their formula… or how confused they are.
We hope that the improvements our development team made to this editor help facilitate the learning in any STEM courses in Yellowdig. Building community in these technical classes is just as critical, if not more critical, than in other subjects. We are grateful to be a part of so many students’ learning journeys.
Another Fun Update
You can now search for your network in the SSO login page! 🎉
Has it been a while since you’ve been in Yellowdig? Maybe you’ve only used Yellowdig Classic?
We’d love to show you around Yellowdig Engage!
SCHEDULE A LIVE DEMO OF YELLOWDIG
If you have any questions please reach out to clientsuccess@yellowdig.com.
Brian Hurlow is the Director of Technology at Yellowdig.
Check out the rest of our blog on our website! https://www.yellowdig.co/blog
