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MathML

markup language allowing to express mathematical formulae in a linear text form, with an XML-based notation and a standardized schema

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ823982
Source-derived summary

Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) is a pair of mathematical markup languages, an application of XML for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. Its aim is to natively integrate mathematical formulae into World Wide Web pages and other documents. It is part of HTML5 and standardised by ISO/IEC since 2015.

History

Following some experiments in the Arena browser based on proposals for mathematical markup in HTML, MathML 1 was released as a W3C recommendation in April 1998 as the first XML language to be recommended by the W3C. Version 1.01 of the format was released in July 1999 and version 2.0 appeared in February 2001. Implementations of the specification appeared in Amaya 1.1, Mozilla 1.0 and Opera 9.5. In October 2003, the second edition of MathML Version 2.0 was published as the final release by the W3C Math Working Group.

MathML was originally designed before the finalization of XML namespaces. However, it was assigned a namespace immediately after the Namespace Recommendation was completed, and for XML use, the elements should be in the namespace with namespace URL http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML. When MathML is used in HTML (as opposed to XML) this namespace is automatically inferred by the HTML parser and need not be specified in the document.

MathML version 3

Version 3 of the MathML specification was released as a W3C recommendation on 20 October 2010. A recommendation of A MathML for CSS Profile was later released on 7 June 2011; this is a subset of MathML suitable for CSS formatting.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “MathML” as markup language allowing to express mathematical formulae in a linear text form, with an XML-based notation and a standardized schema. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around MathML, markup and language.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2015, 1998, 1999, 2001—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with MathML, markup and language providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “MathML”, the useful work is to connect “markup language allowing to express mathematical formulae in a linear text form, with an XML-based notation and a standardized schema” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q823982. The Library of Congress control number is sh2002004656. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2015, 1998, 1999 and 2001.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “MathML”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow MathML primary sources, MathML archive and MathML research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “MathML”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from MathML” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.