This memo is intended to identify and explore issues in defining a standard for the exchange of mathematical equations. No attempt is made at a complete definition and more questions are asked than are answered. Questions about the user interface are only addressed to the extent that they affect interchange issues.
Comments are welcome.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Since the early days of the Arpanet, electronic mail has been in wide use and many regard it as an essential tool. Numerous mailing lists and newsgroups have sprung up over the years, allowing large numbers of people all over the world to participate remotely in discussions on a variety of topics. More recently, multimedia mail systems have been developed which allow users to not only send and receive text messages, but also those containing voice, bitmaps, graphics, and other electronic media. Most of us in the Internet community take electronic mail for granted, but for the rest of the world, it is a brand new capability.