The Math essay with rich text question type allows learners to input text and math formula within the same response, usually when a response needs further explanation or math is required to be entered within the text of a written document.

This Question type is manually scored. Learner responses must be reviewed and scored by a teacher.

As the score is assigned through human judgment, there is no automatic scoring configuration available for this Question type. You cannot define correct answers or scoring rules during Question setup.

Scores are applied after submission as part of the manual grading workflow. Teachers evaluate the response using their own criteria, and the score is recorded via Learnosity’s manual grading workflow.

For more information about manual grading in Learnosity, see What is the Grading API?

Math can be inserted into the text via the add math toolwhich will open the math keypad when selected. learners can then edit the inserted math by clicking on the math to re-open the keypad. The keypad and the symbols available to the learner can be configured by the author, see Keypad in the More Options section below.

Figure 1: Math essay question example.

Create a Question

To author an essay question, follow these steps:

• Fill in the Compose Question area with your desired question or instructions to the learner.
• Underneath, you can control what formatting options the learner will see in their toolbar. The icons highlighted in grey have been enabled, the white icons are disabled. Click on a white icon to enable it, and click on a grey icon to disable it. Use the DIV icons to place dividing lines between icons.

Figure 2: The full selection of essay formatting options available.

Note that the following formatting options are available to the learner: bold, italic, underline, div, bulleted list, numbered list, remove all formatting, left align, center align, right align, justify, quote, superscript, subscript, indent right, indent left, insert a horizontal divider, create a table, character map, add math, add image, undo and redo.

• Set the word limit (the maximum word count) for the essay - this can be between 1 and 10,000. You can also set whether the word limit is visible to the learner at all times ("always visible"), only visible to the learner when they have reached the limit ("on limit"), or totally hidden from the learner ("off").
• You can choose to enable or disable the word count from being visible to the learner, using the show word count checkbox.

Figure 3: Word limit and word count controls.

More options

• Maximum points¹: the maximum number of points that can be awarded for the Question.
• Minimum points if attempted²: points awarded to the learner for attempting the Question, regardless of a correct or incorrect response.
• Submit over limit: Enable this option if you want to allow the learner to submit their essay, even if it is over the word limit.
• Special characters: This field will become enabled when you have enabled the character map in the text formatting options above. What is entered in the field will override the default character map symbols (see example below).

Figure 4: Enter symbols in the special characters field to customize the character map. Enter each symbol one after the other, with no space or comma in between, as above. 

Figure 5: How the character map will appear to the learner when symbols have been customized.

• Min height and max-height: Set the minimum and maximum height of the essay box, in pixels.
• Placeholder: Text entered in this field will appear as placeholder text in the essay box. It will disappear on type Note: this option is not recommended if accessibility is key to your product. Placeholder text breaks accessibility as the contrast ratio of the text does not meet standards.
• Spellcheck and text correction: Check this box is unchecked, browser spellcheck will be disabled, along with auto-correct, auto-complete, and auto-capitalize on iOS devices. Note: This is a browser feature and may not always be available or supported.
• Font size: Select from small, normal, large, extra-large, or huge for the font size. Note that this will affect the question and essay toolbar, but also the learner input.

Keypad

The insert math toolis enabled by default in Math essay with rich text. When selected by the learner it will display the math keypad allowing learners to input math within the text. The followings settings determine how the keypad will appear to the learner. 

• Show keypad hints - Enable or disable hints on the keypad, such as keyboard shortcuts and symbol group titles that are shown on the top left corner of the keypad when hovering over a symbol group key. 
• Enable horizontal keypad - this changes the keypad layout to a rectangular, 2 row, keypad. You can then customize this keypad by clicking on a button and either replacing it with another symbol or leaving it empty.
• Number pad - Customize the number pad in this section; change the order of the buttons, or remove some buttons.
• Symbols - Select what symbol groups will be shown to the learner, or create custom symbol groups.
• See Keypad customization documentation for further details on customizing the Keypad.

Text blocks

Use this option when you want to define a list of custom units (such as g, kg, cm, oz, etc.) that will not be rendered as LaTeX when entered via the keypad by the learner. See the dedicated Text Blocks article.

'Extra' options

The extras section in the authoring interface allows you to add more information about the Question, information that we refer to as metadata.

There are a number of fields available: acknowledgements, contains math, distractor rationale, distractors, instructor stimulus, rubric reference, sample answer, and stimulus (review only).

To learn more about the options shown in the Extras section, see Understanding the Extras Section of the Question Editor.

1. Note: “Maximum points” replaces the earlier label “Max score”. Version added: v2026.1.LTS

2. Note: “Minimum points if attempted” replaces the earlier label “Minimum score if attempted”. Version added: v2026.1.LTS