The OpenMath Project was started in order to develop technologies to allow mathematical objects to be manipulated in a meaningful way in modern multimedia computational environments. This implies that an object must carry some encoding of its semantics, as well as be able to display itself using appropriate notation. Early in the project the MathML working group of the Worldwide Web Consortium produced a mechanism for encoding presentation information (and a very limited amount of semantics) and the project decided to exploit MathML both as a presentation medium, and as an alternative content format in simple cases.
The main output of the project has been a document describing the OpenMath standard, and a suite of content dictionaries describing the semantics of particular symbols. These have been implemented in a number pieces of software, both re-usable tools and end-user applications.
A second important activity has been to provide input to the specification of the content part of MathML 2 to remove ambiguities, define a more consistent set of symbols, and ensure that the semantics of those symbols correspond as far as possible to their equivalents in OpenMath.
The results of the project have been disseminated via a number of information days and workshops, publications in academic journals, conferences, and a special edition of the ACM SIGSAM Bulletin, and on the worldwide web. An international society has been set up to maintain the standard and oversee the development of new content dictionaries. The industrial partners are in the process of developing commercial products based on OpenMath technology.
