Efofex News

Our new MultiDocs system has allowed us to rebuild support for PowerPoint. The latest versions of our products can now insert toolbars into your copy of PowerPoint on both Windows AND Mac.

Even better, the new toolbars provide access to all of the MultiDoc features. You can create self-modifying mathematical PowerPoint presentations or just use our products more efficiently.

Adding the toolbars to PowerPoint is more complicated than Word. In the Help menu of any of our products, go to Manage Office Integration.

This button will provide all of the details to get you started.

The last few months have seen continued frenetic development in our MultiDocs system. The ability to create self-modifying mathematical documents (think one test with multiple versions at the push of a button) is the most powerful and exciting development from Efofex since FX Draw.

In recent weeks we have added new classes of parameters that allow you to create data sets and perform calculations on the sets. You could create some random data; draw a graph; calculate some summary statistics and write a comprehensive statistics question. Once complete, you push a button and get a totally new version of your question.

We have also release a selection of new videos to help you get your head around the new ideas. The nice thing about MultiDocs is that you use them to create your own documents; you can use MultiDocs written by others (see our FX Library) or just ignore them completely and keep using our products as you always have.

Take a look at our MultiDocs introductory materials now.

MultiDocs – Powered by Efofex

Full details of the powerful new features are available in our more technical, Efofex Insiders blog.

The latest versions of FX Draw and FX Equation have added an IF command. This represents a major increase in the power of the parameters system and allows authors to create significantly more powerful MultiDocs.

An example If command might look like this…

{if($d=0,”Cannot divide by zero”,$n/$d)}

If you included this command in a question, the inline calculator will look:

• Look at the value of the $d parameter
• If $d is zero, the command will add the words “Cannot divide by zero” to your equation.
• If $d is not zero, the command will divide the value of the $n parameter by $d and output the answer.

In addition to the new IF command, we have added a number of other Boolean commands that make it easy to write conditions for IF commands. These include:

• And
• Or
• Xor
• Nor
• Not
• IsEven
• IsOdd
• IsInteger
• IsComposite
• IsPrime
• IsFactor
• IsNatural
• IsCube
• IsSquare

The new IF command is available for use now but we anticipate that its power will allow us to add a variety of new features. Keep an eye out!

Efofex Parameters have been available to users for a few months now. Some users are doing absolutely amazing things with them including one user who is creating documents that can provide both Greek and English versions of the same questions. We have been constantly adding new capabilities as we experiment with parameters. For example, we recently added a feature which will write the value of a parameter in English text (so it turns “31” into “thirty one”) so numbers can be included directly in the text of your questions.

Users have been using FX Library to see some of the things that are possible but we have started to hear people ask “This all looks great, how do I start?” To address this, we have published a new video where we look at turning an existing test question, written in Word, into a fully parametized question.

If you are interested in creating at MultiDocs, take a look at the new video!

Creating Your First Parametized Question

We have recently improved access to our Help resources by restructuring the Help menu in our products. We have provided a little more information but, more importantly, have made the existing information much more accessible. Take a look after your next update.

Being based in Western Australia in a COVID affected world has greatly limited the amount of professional development training we have been able to offer. We are currently working on developing Zoom and Microsoft Teams based training to address this shortfall.

To complete our development, we would like to offer some free, one hour training sessions so we can polish our processes. The free sessions are limited to Australian schools (to minimize time zone issues) and will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

So if you need to fill a training slot in the next few weeks, contact us to see if you can access some free training. The slots will fill quickly so don’t delay.

Grouped data graphs (histograms, frequency polygons and cumulative frequency graphs) now have the option of placing the class centres in the axes. This is particularly useful for NSW teachers who seem to prefer this option.

You can turn on class centre scales in the options for the affected graph types.

Long term users of our products will know that we previously had a version of this mode of graphing (it was called Use Alternative Axes). The new system is massively improved and allows you to combine cumulative frequency curves with other graphs.

We have just uploaded a number of new FX Library MultiDocs including a nice little right angle trigonometry investigation.

Measuring Heights & Depths Investigation

https://efofexonlinestorage.blob.core.windows.net/library/FX202103101027.docx

This investigation looks at calculating the heights and depths of inaccessible objects.

The validation section of the investigation has been parametized to allow multiple versions to be produced.

FX Library MultiDocs provide you with prewritten materials that you can use as-is or you can use the MultiDocs features to generate new versions at will. They also provide exemplars on how to create your own MultiDocs. We recommend that you keep an eye on FX Library by pushing the Library button on our new Word toolbar.

The latest version of FX Draw adds three new tools that allow you to create diagrams like this.

The three new tools are:

• A circular dial – in the circle tools.
• An arc dial – in the arc tools.
• Dial hands – in the line tools.

The dials are highly customizable – just right click.

This feature was the direct suggestion of one of our users. Thanks Christine!

The latest versions of our graphing products (FX Draw, FX Graph and FX Stat) now include more formats for scales.

Existing Styles

Our graphing products have always been able to mark axes in terms of pi.

You also can (automatically) use degrees.

New Styles

Currency, fixed decimals, percentages and scientific notation are now all possible.

Controlling The New Options

You can select the new scale types on the Scales tab.