# Mathematics Content Understanding for Cyberlearning via Formula Evolution Map

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel system called PRMA that helps students understand complex math content in STEM literature by visualizing formula evolution and recommending educational resources, improving comprehension for advanced learners.

## Contribution

It presents a new approach combining formula evolution mapping and innovative algorithms to enhance math-content understanding in cyberlearning environments.

## Key findings

- PRMA effectively aids students in understanding complex formulas.
- The system successfully recommends relevant educational resources.
- Evaluation shows improved comprehension among master and PhD students.

## Abstract

Although the scientific digital library is growing at a rapid pace, scholars/students often find reading Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) literature daunting, especially for the math-content/formula. In this paper, we propose a novel problem, ``mathematics content understanding'', for cyberlearning and cyberreading. To address this problem, we create a Formula Evolution Map (FEM) offline and implement a novel online learning/reading environment, PDF Reader with Math-Assistant (PRMA), which incorporates innovative math-scaffolding methods. The proposed algorithm/system can auto-characterize student emerging math-information need while reading a paper and enable students to readily explore the formula evolution trajectory in FEM. Based on a math-information need, PRMA utilizes innovative joint embedding, formula evolution mining, and heterogeneous graph mining algorithms to recommend high quality Open Educational Resources (OERs), e.g., video, Wikipedia page, or slides, to help students better understand the math-content in the paper. Evaluation and exit surveys show that the PRMA system and the proposed formula understanding algorithm can effectively assist master and PhD students better understand the complex math-content in the class readings.