Efofex News

The new toolbar allows you to manage, regenerate and create MultiDocs which is a powerful new addition to Efofex’s toolset – but what if you just want to add or edit a simple graphic like you always have?

This page shows you how.

Creating and Editing Graphics and Equations Using the New Toolbar

Our latest downloads include a refreshed version of the Word toolbar with some new features added.

As a reminder, this is our new Word integration toolbar that is now available on Windows AND Mac machines. It brings all of the power and convenience of the old Classic Mode systems to a new group of users as well as massively increasing the usefulness of our products in Word “multidocs”.

There are a number of new features that have been implemented.

1. Buttons on the toolbar now respond to the currently open products as well as what is selected. The Regenerate button (for example) only becomes active if the currently selected object is a regeneratable object. Information on the basic usage of the toolbar can be found here.
2. The Reparametize button makes it easier to use multiple copies of a question in a document. More information on reparametization can be found here.
3. We have added a link to the documentation for the new toolbar, Efofex parameters and Multidocs to the toolbar.
4. Finally, we have added a direct link to FX Library which is our collection of prewritten MultiDocs which you can use as examples on how to use Efofex parameters – or just download and use immediately with your students.

Should I Change?

The new toolbar makes Efofex integration into Word incredibly powerful and productive. We recommend that long-term users of our products upgrade at their earliest convenience. There is a little bit to learn, but we have tried to make the change as easy as possible. Visit our dedicated page for long-term Windows users here.

While very few schools still want to pay us by check/cheque there are still some, usually in the USA and Canada. Banks have tried very hard to discourage their use, particularly internationally, by massively raising fees and delaying remittances. We have kept the option alive for some schools for which it was a requirement. This became much more difficult when COVID19 arrived.

Recently our bank has told us that they will no longer accept foreign currency checks/cheques. We are left with no choice but to follow their lead and have recently removed the option from our website.

Schools can now remit using credit cards, PayPal or direct deposit to our Australian bank account. In some circumstances we can also offer direct deposit to a local account (particularly in the US). This is negotiated on a case-by-case basis and there is no option to deposit checks to the local account.

In summary, we can no longer accept checks/cheques as payment.

We have added a new Greek letter command to Efofex parameters. You can now define a parameter like:

$x=greek()

This will randomly select a Greek letter from a list of acceptable letters (excluding letters like pi which have specific meanings). In this case $x might be turned into al, ga or rh. This allows you to create algebraic and geometric questions with varying Greek letters.

If you define multiple Greek letters in one set of parameters, the letters will always be sequential.

$x=greek()
$y=greek()
$z=greek()

You might end up with the three Greek letters being be, ga and de.

Often, when writing a question, you will want to include a small number in a sentence

“A bag contains five red and three blue marbles”

Creating these sorts of questions using parameters has been difficult as the parameter system only works in numerals.

The ToEnglish command allows you to turn numeric parameters into words which can be used in your Word document. In the example above, you might have created two parameters, $r and $b, which contain the number of red and blue marbles. If you just use $r and $b in your text…

A bag contains $r red and $b blue marbles

You will see…

“A bag contains 5 red and 3 blue marbles”

You can turn these numbers into words by typing

A bag contains {toenglish($r)} red and {toenglish($b)} blue marbles

The ToEnglishCap command operates in exactly the same way but capitalises the first letter of the output for use at the beginning of sentences.

We have added two commands to Efofex Parameters that allow you to create algebraic questions with less hassle.

Often, you will want to create a question that operates with both positive and negative numbers, but you need to exclude 0 and maybe 1 and -1. For example you might want to create a question where the parameter is the used as the denominator of a fraction and need to exclude zero.

The RangeEx and PrimeEx commands allow you to create sets of possibilities that satisfy this need.

For example:

$p=rangeex(2,5) will select a value for $p from the set of values {-5, -4, -3, -2, 2, 3, 4, 5}

Notice that the numbers from 2 to 5 are included as well as the associated negative values. The values -1, 0 and 1 are excluded from the list.

The PrimeEx command operates in exactly the same way but is limited to prime numbers and their negatives.

$p=primeex(2,10) will select a value for $p from the set of values {-7, -5, -3, -2, 2, 3, 5, 7}

We have added a new exact display mode to Efofex parameters.

We have also added the ability to select the display mode from the Parameters toolbar in FX Equation.

When you set FX Equation to the Exact display mode, rational numbers will be displayed as simplified fractions and surds can also be displayed.

If you create a calculation that parameters cannot resolve exactly, the result will be shown as a decimal. You also have the option to display exact values involving surds using only prime surds. For example, the result of the last calculation above can be shown like this.

We have also added an exact command that can display the exact result of just part of a calculation. This is useful if you need the overall display style to not be set to exact.

In the example above, the overall display style is set to decimal and we have included the exact command only for the final calculation.

The exact display style and command make creating some solutions much simpler.

We have added another way to define a parameter

$a=factor(value)
$a=factor(value,low,high)

When you regenerate a parameter defined with a factor command, $a will be allocated a random value selected from the factors of the number you have selected.

For example

$a=factor(72) will mean that $a is randomly selected from the list {1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 72}

The low and high values (which are optional) allow you to restrict the factors selected.

$a=factor(72,10,40) will mean that $a is randomly selected from the list {12, 18, 24, 36}

We have added a new pronumerals command to Efofex parameters. You can now define a parameter like:

$x=pronumeral()

This will randomly select a pronumeral from a list of acceptable pronumerals. In this case $x might be turned into a,b,c,… x,y,z with some options (like i and o) omitted. This allows you to create algebraic questions with varying letters.

If you define multiple pronumerals in one set of parameters, the pronumerals will always be sequential.

$x=pronumeral()
$y=pronumeral()
$z=pronumeral()

You might end up with the three pronumerals being a, b and c OR x, y and z OR f, g and h for example.

As we have been working with the new parameter system to create self-modifying documents, we have created a small library of documents which would be useful for all teachers. Work on the library is slow at the moment (mainly because we keep finding ways of improving the system!) but will accelerate as the parameter system becomes more refined.

In the long run, we want the library to become a massive resource of pre-written materials, most of which will be parametised, that will be available to all FX Draw Tools subscribers. Imagine being able to access tens of thousands of questions, all able to self-modify using parameters, including fully worked solutions. We are very excited about it!

As an Efofex Insider subscriber, we are giving you early access to the library. At the moment there are only about 40 documents available but they are free to use and you can begin to see the full power of the parameters system.

You can view the library at

FX Library