Efofex parameters have always supported references. These allow you to reference individual values in a parameter.

For example, if you have created a parameter like

$p=shuffle(1,6)

$p might end up being 5, 4, 6, 1, 3, 2

You can reference individual elements of $p using square brackets.

$p[4] = 1
$p[6] = 2

The latest versions allow you to use a reference range.

$p[2,5] = “4, 6, 1, 3”

Reference ranges will automatically be produced with your local separator (in this example, that is a comma).

You can also add your own separator

$p[2,5,+]

will be replaced with “4+6+1+3”

Special Reference Ranges

There are two special reference ranges you can use. The first is the empty reference range.

$p[]

This will list out ALL elements of the set. For the example above, this will produce

“5, 4, 6, 1, 3, 2”

The second special reference range is an elided reference. For this example we will use

$q=range(1,100)

If you listed out this full set, the result would be too long for one line. Instead you can use this notation.

$q[…]

which will automatically produce an elided list.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 … 96, 97, 98, 99, 100

You can also add your own separator

$q[…,+]

1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+ … +96+97+98+99+100

Ideal for sequences and series questions!

We have been working frenetically on Efofex parameters and the inline calculator over the last few months and have created a number of new, powerful parameters and commands. This article discusses the new parameter types.

Shuffle Parameters

A shuttle parameter allows you to quickly create a shuffled list. For example,

$p=shuffle(1,6)

will automatically create a shuffled list of the numbers from 1 to 6. This means that $p might be

3, 4, 1, 6, 5, 2 or 4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 3 or any other arrangement.

You will normally access shuffled lists using references.

$p[1] or $p[4] for example.

Coprimes Parameters

A coprimes parameter produces a randomly selected set of (up to 10) coprime numbers from the indicated range.

$p = coprimes(1,50)

This parameter might produce

34, 35, 11, 31… or 4, 21, 19, 43…

This allows you to quickly create new sets of coprime numbers (numbers which share no common factors)

Data Parameters

A data parameter is really just a list of values (a bit like a list parameter). The difference is that data parameters are designed to be worked on as a data set. For example, you can find the mean of a data parameter using a simple calculator command.

A simple data parameter looks just like a list parameter.

$p=data(1,4,6,8,2,4,7,2)

but you will not often write out your own set of data. A more useful way to get a data set is to use one of our random number parameters.

Random Number Parameters

Our random number parameters allow you to quickly create data parameters using random numbers. The two you will use most often are:

$p=randnormal(50,10,30,2)

Which will produce 30 normally distributed random numbers from a population with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 (rounded to 2 decimal places).

or

$p=randbetween(1,6,30)

Which will produce 30 uniformly distributed random numbers from 1 to 6 (equivalent to rolling a die 30 times)

There are a number of other distributions you can use. These are mentioned in our online help.

The latest versions of our products will replace $$ with your local currency symbol as determined by your computer settings.

€, £, ¥ and even ₮

Even better, if you send your document to a user in a different country, your equation will be rendered using their currency symbol automatically.

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.

Basic Usage

The new If command in the inline calculator allows you to create extremely complicated expressions.

The If command has the following format

if(condition to be satisfied, value if true, value if false)

For example, an if statement might look like this

{if($n>0,100,-20)}

When this command is run, the inline calculator will look at the value of the $n parameter. If the value is greater than 0, this statement will be replaced by 100. If the value is less than or equal to 0, the statement will be replaced by -20.

If commands will often include multiple parameters.

{if($n>0,$p,$q)}

With this command the inline calculator will return the value of either $p or $q, depending on the value of $n.

Conditions

A condition is a Boolean statement that returns true or false. Conditions often include inequalities:

• $s<4
• $n>=6
• $q=9
• $t<>7 ($t is not equal to 7)

These are fairly simple conditions. You can combine these using the And, Or and Not commands as well as some of the more specialized Boolean commands to produce extremely complicated conditions.

Numbers Or Text?

You can use the inline calculator to insert numbers or text into your equation. If you want to insert text into your equation, you must wrap the text in quotes.

For example:

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

This command will look at the value of $d. If the value is 0, the inline calculator will return the text Cannot divide by zero. If $d is not zero, the calculator will divide $n by $d and return the result.

Nested If Commands

If commands can be nested.

{if($n=0,”n is zero”,if($n<0,”n is negative”,”n is positive”))}

This command might take a little decoding…

If $n is zero, the command will return n is zero. If $n is not zero, the calculator will return the second result – which in this case is another if command. The calculator will execute the nested if command and return the appropriate response. There are no technical limits to the amount of nesting but the expressions can quickly become unwieldy. Often a better way to nest if commands is to assign commands to parameters. For example, if you assigned

$p=if($n<0,”n is negative”,”n is positive”)

You could then write the nested if command as

{if($n=0,”n is zero”,$p)}

Boolean Conditions

We have added a number of commands to help you write Boolean conditions. Details can be found in the online documentation.

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

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.

The built-in calculator provides a large proportion of the capabilities of Efofex Parameters. The ability to type:

{3 sin 20}

and have the expression automatically calculated is crucial to most parametized questions.

Recently we improved the capabilities of the built-in calculator in two major ways.

Improved Exact Value Calculations

The calculator can now produce exact values for expressions like {$x^5} if $x is already an exact value like 2/3.

Combinations and Permutations

The calculator can now calculate expressions involving combinations and permutations like {5C2} and {7P3}