This is certainly possible to do. The tex function is defined in a
file called mactex, but it is written in lisp, so you would either have
to learn some lisp or find someone who knows lisp.
However, you are working on several faulty premises.
1. A person who can solve a calculus problem has the interest and ability
to type it in to a computer algebra system perfectly.
2. A person who CAN'T do calculus, even more miraculously, can type the
answer (wrong...) into a computer algebra system perfectly.
3. The computer will differentiate the correct answer to get the integrand
IN THE SAME FORM, EASILY CHECKED.
Since 80% (my guess) of the correct answers will be typed incorrectly,
people
will not believe the computer feedback.
Some people have used point-evaluation tests to check results heuristically.
(Good luck, anyway)
RJF
Chris Sangwin wrote:
>I am relatively new to Maxima, but have tried to find the answer to this
>question in the FAQ and docs.
>
>I am using Maxima as part of a computer aided assessment system to
>automatically mark students' work, and as part of this am concatinating
>strings to generate feedback. I would like to capture the output from the
>TEX function as a string. For efficiency reasons I don't want to write to
>a file and then load this back.
>
>Also, I'd like to get just the raw TeX associated with a Maxima variable
>without the $$'s around the string - sometimes I'd like to produce inline
>equations, or construct arrays say, with specified entries. In short I'd
>like a little more control.
>
>Where is the TEX function defined? Is there a doc? How would I customise
>this? I am a LISP virgin!
>
>The sort of syntax I'd like is the following:
>
>
> WrongAnswer: x^2/2*EXP(x)+c;
> Integrand:x*EXP*(x);
>
> FB1:"Incorrect answer. You were asked to integrate $"$
> T1:TEX(Integrand);
> FB2:"$. The derivative of your answer should be equal to the function that you were asked to integrate. In fact the derivative of your answer is \\["$
> T2:TEX(Diff(WrongAnswer,x));
> FB3:"\\] So you must have done something wrong!"$
>
> FeedBack:CONCAT(FB1,T1,FB2,T2,FB3);
>
>Many thanks in advance for any advice.
>
>Chris Sangwin
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