Generate Images for formulas in Java

Question

Hi

I'd like to generate an image file showing some mathematical expression, taking a String like "(x+a)^n=∑_(k=0)^n" as input and getting a more (human) readable image file as output. AFAIK stuff like that is used in Wikipedia for example. Are there maybe any java libraries that do that?

Or maybe I use the wrong approach. What would you do if the requirement was to enable pasting of formulas from MS Word into an HTML-document? I'd ask the user to just make a screenshot himself, but that would be the lazy way^^

Edit: Thanks for the answers so far, but I really do not control the input. What I get is some messy Word-style formula, not clean latex-formatted one.

Edit2: http://www.panschk.de/text.tex Looks a bit like LaTeX doesn't it? That's what I get when I do clipboard.getContents(RTFTransfer.getInstance()) after having pasted a formula from Word07. Thanks again for the answers.

Answer 1

First and foremost you should familiarize yourself with TeX (and LaTeX) - a famous typesetting system created by Donald Knuth. Typesetting mathematical formulae is an advanced topic with many opinions and much attention to detail - therefore use something that builds upon TeX. That way you are sure to get it right ;-)

Edit: Take a look at texvc

It can output to PNG, HTML, MathML. Check out the README

Edit #2 Convert that messy Word-stuff to TeX or MathML?

Answer 2

What you're looking for is Latex.

MikTex is a nice little application for churning out images using LaTeX.

I'd like to look into creating them on-the-fly though...

Answer 3

Steer clear of LaTeX. Seriously.

Check out JEuclid. It can convert MathML expressions into images.

Answer 4

My colleague found a surprisingly simple solution for this very specific problem: When you copy formulas from Word2007, they are also stored as "HTML" in the Clipboard. As representing formulas in HTML isn't easy neither, Word just creates a temporary image file on the fly and embeds it into the HTML-code. You can then simply take the temporary formula-image and copy it somewhere else. Problem solved;)