## WeBWorK Problems

### Asterisk appears in Compute( "$a x " )->reduce; HOW TO GET RID OF IT? ### Asterisk appears in Compute( "$a x " )->reduce; HOW TO GET RID OF IT?

by Aba Mbirika -
Number of replies: 3
When I create a quadratic function like:
$f = Compute( "x^2 +$a x + b" )->reduce;

Then if $a is randomly chosen to be 3, for instance, the quadratic appears on the screen as: x2+3 * x+b Instead, I would like it to appear as: x2+3x+b Is it possible to remove the asterisk? Thanks much, aBa In reply to Aba Mbirika ### Re: Asterisk appears in Compute( "$a x " )->reduce; HOW TO GET RID OF IT?

by Alex Jordan -
If you are using the BEGIN_TEXT...END_TEXT environment to display the problem and the Math Objects, then you need to precede it all with Context()->texStrings; and end it with Context()->normalStrings; My first guess would be that this is the issue.
Context()->texStrings;
BEGIN_TEXT
...
END_TEXT
Context()->normalStrings;

See if this fixes things for you.

### Re: Asterisk appears in Compute( "$a x " )->reduce; HOW TO GET RID OF IT? by Aba Mbirika - Thanks Alex. That absolutely fixed the problem. I am new-ish at authoring problems, so I take much content from the NPL. The one I "lifted" has TEXT(EV3(<<'EOT')); EOT So indeed this is old code. Thanks for the tip. And have a nice day! Shalom, aBa In reply to Aba Mbirika ### Re: Asterisk appears in Compute( "$a x " )->reduce; HOW TO GET RID OF IT?
To explain a little what is happening here, suppose $f=Formula("x/3"). Then$f is a complex hash of information, including how to represent $f as a string for say other math objects, as well as how to represent it as a string to be processed with tex. By default, Context()->normalStrings is in place, and if you had$g=Formula("$f+1");, then$f is replaced with x/3, and you have something equivalent to $g=Formula("x/3+1");. But for display to students, you want$f to come out as \frac{x}{3}. Setting Context()->texStrings makes this happen.
Lastly you go back to Context()->normalStrings, because if you now used $g=Formula("$f+1");, you'd get an error from \$g=Formula("\frac{x}{3}+1").