Wildcards in math search, implementation issues

Math search is a new area of research with many enabling technologies but also many challenges. Some of the enabling technologies include XML, XPath, XQuery, and MathML. Some of the challenges involve enabling search systems to recognize mathematical symbols and structures. Several math search projects have made considerable progress in meeting those challenges. One of the remaining challenges is the creation and implementation of a math query language that enables the general users to express their information needs intuitively yet precisely. A new query language that extends the current standard query syntax has been developed. An important feature of the math query language is the introduction of a powerful set of wildcards that are deemed important for math search. These wildcards provide for more precise structural search and multi-levels of abstraction. This paper will present three sets of wildcards and discuss their implementation details.