Mathematical Information Retrieval: Search and Question Answering

Richard Zanibbi, Behrooz Mansouri, Anurag Agarwal

Abstract: Mathematical information is essential for technical work, but its creation, interpretation, and search are challenging. To help address these challenges, researchers have developed multimodal search engines and mathematical question answering systems. This book begins with a simple framework characterizing the information tasks that people and systems perform as we work to answer math-related questions. The framework is used to organize and relate the other core topics of the book, including interactions between people and systems, representing math formulas in sources, and evaluation. We close by addressing some key questions and presenting directions for future work. This book is intended for students, instructors, and researchers interested in systems that help us find and use mathematical information.