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 MOODLE ALGEBRA QUESTION TYPE
 ----------------------------
 
-Created by Roger Moore
+This implements an *algebraic* question type for moodle. The student enters a formula.  For example:
 
-### Original readme by Roger Moore
+* Suppose the right answer is `½ sin 2θ`. Then `sin(θ) cos(θ)` will be considered equally correct.
 
-These files implement a algebra based question type for Moodle.
+* Suppose the right answer is `1/√(1-x^2)`.  Then `cosh(asinh(x))`
+will be considered equally correct.
 
-The code has been tested and used for a large, introductory physics
-course (~120 students) at the University of Alberta for several
-terms now and is stable and suitable for use in a production
-environment.
+This is a huge improvement over multiple choice.
 
-The code is all released under the GPL V3.
+This is a light-weight plugin. It implements its own simple routines
+for parsing and evaluating expressions.  It takes only a couple
+minutes to install and configure, if you already have a working moodle
+system.
 
-Please send any bugs, comments, suggestions for new features etc.
-to me.
+### Principles of Operation
 
-Enjoy,
+The plugin tests the answer by evaluating it numerically and comparing
+to the desired answer specified by the teacher. The evaluation is
+performed at random points within a specified interval.
 
-Roger Moore <rwmoore@ualberta.ca>
+(The code purports to provide other ways of evaluating formulas, but
+these are untested and unsupported.)
 
-### Additional readme
+There are ways of specifying multiple correct answers, for full or
+partial credit, if that's what you want.
 
-Updated to Moodle 2.0 by Stefan Raffeiner <stefan.raffeiner@gmail.com>
-Updated to Moodle 2.1 by Jean-Michel Védrine <vedrine@univ-st-etienne.fr>
+If a variable name spells out a Greek letter (e.g. `beta` or `Lambda`)
+it will be formatted as the corresponding letter (`β` or `Λ`).
+Variable names can have subscripts, e.g. `x_min` or `beta_3`.
 
-This plugin is now maintained by Jean-Michel Védrine. This version is upgraded to
-work with Moodle 3.0 and ulteriors versions. It has been tested with Moodle versions up to 3.7.
+#### Input formatting:
 
-For support use the Moodle quiz forum at https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=737
+Express the inputs the way you would program in a computer language.
+Do not try to format or typeset the inputs.
 
-### Installation and set-up
+The plugin will show a formatted, typeset version. This is slightly
+helpful to confirm that the your input was understood, but mostly it's
+just cosmetic. The typeset version plays no role in the evaluations.
 
-#### Install from the Moodle plugins database
+### Installation and Setup
 
-    https://moodle.org/plugins/qtype_algebra
+#### Install using git:
 
-#### Install using git
+To install using git:<br>
+:; cd $moodle/<br>
+:; git clone https://www.av8n.com/cgit/moodle-qtype_algebra/  question/type/algebra<br>
+:; echo '/question/type/algebra/' >> .git/info/exclude
 
-To install using git, type these commands in the root of your Moodle install:
-git clone https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_algebra.git  question/type/algebra echo '/question/type/algebra/' >> .git/info/exclude
+Then run the moodle update process. This may require you to install a
+bunch of php plugins that you heretofore didn't need. The update page
+will guide you through this. It should be visible at:<br> Site
+administration > Notifications
 
-Then run the moodle update process Site administration > Notifications
+For support, consider using the [Moodle quiz
+forum](https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=737), which covers all
+Moodle question types (not just this one):
+[https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=737](https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=737)
 
-Enjoy.
+#### Requirements:
 
-Jean-Michel Védrine
+For the display to work you need to have some way of displaying TeX
+expressions activated on your Moodle website: either the TeX filter or
+the MathJax filter enabled. Beware that there are thousands of web
+sites that give outdated or just plain wrong instructions for
+installing MathJax, so you may find it easier to rely on the builtin
+Tex filter.
 
-WARNING :
-I am now retired and I stopped all Moodle related activities.
-This repository is here just for history and this work is not maintained any more.
-Feel free to fork it and modify it to suit your needs or improve compatibility with recent Moodle versions.
-Additionally you can consider contacting the Moodle team and become the new maintainer of this plugin. Thanks
+### See Also
+
+There exists a much more heavy-weight solution to the same problem. It uses
+a fully-featured computer algebra system as its back end:
+[STACK question type](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/STACK_question_type)
+[`https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/STACK_question_type`](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/STACK_question_type)
+
+### Colophon
+* Originally created by by Roger Moore
+* Updated to Moodle 2.0 by Stefan Raffeiner
+* Updated to Moodle 2.1 by Jean-Michel Védrine