There’s a website-based equation editor at Sitmo.com, and for a little while, I’ve been trying to figure out what I would use it for.  This equation editor is built by a website that seems to focus on serious quantitative methods for financial calculations (spread options using Gaussian quadrature, exchange option pricing models, etc.).  I’m not sure that the folks who put up the Sitmo site intended for their equation editor to be used for math education in any way.

Here’s what it does.  You can build an equation using either LaTeX or a WYSIWYG editor and their widget displays both simultaneously as you build, right there on the website.

If I needed a quick string of LaTeX code, I could build it here.  Now, I could already do that from MathType, but if I were sitting at someone else’s computer, it might come in handy.

The other thing that Sitmo does is give you a “permanent link” to the equation.  For example, follow this link to see the permanent version of the equation that I generated in the image.  A great upgrade on this feature would be to provide code that would allow you to embed the equation into any webpage (like we do using Jing on discussion boards).

Now the point-and-click interface that sitmo has developed is not fantastic, but it is manageable.  I will give them points for coming the closest to a version of “Ming” (Math + Jing) that I’ve seen yet.

For students who do not have MathType or LaTeX, they would certainly be able to combine this with an image capture program like Jing to turn in mathematical work for an online course.  I’ve added the Sitmo equation editor to my iGoogle page in case I ever need an equation and am not at one of my native machines.

The other way you could use Sitmo would be to teach LaTeX coding to math students with no coding experience.  The ability to see the  WYSIWYG version and LaTeX version change simultaneously means that students could more easily learn by exploring how changes to the code look in the actual equation.

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