Towards intelligent motion inferencing in mathematical sketching

We present a new approach for creating dynamic illustrations to assist in the understanding of concepts in physics and mathematics using pen-based interaction. Our approach builds upon mathematical sketching by combining the ability to make associations between handwritten mathematics and free-form drawings with an underlying physics engine. This combination lets users create animations without having to directly specify object behavior with position functions through time, yet still supports writing the mathematics needed to formulate a problem. This functionality significantly expands the capabilities of mathematical sketching to support a wider variety of dynamic illustrations. We describe our approach to creating this mathematical sketching/physics engine fusion and discuss how it provides a foundation for using mathematical sketching in intelligent tutoring systems.