Editing and Type Composition of Two-Dimensional Mathematical Text via Computer

This paper discusses various strategies and techniques used for editing two-dimensional programs or text and for automatic type-composition of conventional mathematical expressions. The techniques may be used for input prepared on a typewriter that is on-line to a computer or that generates off-line machine-sensible documentation, such as punched paper tape. These techniques, with minor modification, may also be used with a keyboard-controlled cathode ray tube as an input device. Methods of driving a special typewriter in the preparation of composed text can be extended for photocomposition or for a high-speed printer with a special character set. The basic algorithms for the regeneration and internal storage of the two-dimensional document, input in an arbitrary character-by-character order, are discussed, as are other basic techniques for recognizing and parsing two-dimensional mathematical forms and symbols. Illustrations show applications to the automatic composition of mathematical tables and to computer-assisted typing of mathematical text using a newly-designed typewriter terminal (see Fig. 8 of text).