Structural similarity search for formulas using leaf-root paths in operator subtrees

Wei Zhong, Richard Zanibbi

Abstract: We present a new search method for mathematical formulas based on Operator Trees (OPTs) representing the application of operators to operands. Our method provides (1) a simple indexing scheme using OPT leaf-root paths, (2) practical matching of the K largest common subexpressions, and (3) scoring matched OPT subtrees by counting nodes corresponding to visible symbols, weighting operators lower than operands. Using the largest common subexpression (K = 1), we outperform existing formula search engines for non-wildcard queries on the NTCIR-12 Wikipedia Formula Browsing Task. Stronger results are obtained when using additional subexpressions for scoring. Without parallelization or pruning, our system has practical execution times with low variance when compared to other state-of-the-art formula search engines.