Mathematical Information Retrieval: Search and Question Answering

We often pause to search when something that we read, watch, or hear prompts questions that we want answers to. We then go about finding answers using additional sources of information: some already exist, some are created in response to requests (e.g., emails or search results), and some are created to record and organize what we find.

In this way, information sources are the backbone of our information ecosystems. The sources available to us place a hard limit upon which questions we can answer. In addition to the information content in a source, its terminology, notation, writing style, and...