Numbas is an open-source e-assessment system aimed at mathematics and other numerate disciplines. It generates SCORM 2004-compliant, self-contained assessment packages.

Find out more about Numbas, including case studies and the latest blog posts, at numbas.org.uk.

A free to use Numbas editor is open to the public at numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk.

This documentation is a work in progress. If you have any questions, please email us or join the numbas-users mailing list.

Important Information

• What do I need to use Numbas?
• Accessibility
• Licensing
• Security

Getting Started

• Create an account
• Explore the editor
• Write your first question
• Create an exam
• Delivering a Numbas exam to your students
• Collaborating using Numbas
• What next?
• Recorded training sessions

Writing Numbas questions

• Planning a question
• How do I…
• Gallery of example questions

Reference

• Projects
  • Creating a new project
  • The project home page
  • Organising content inside a project
  • Project settings
  • Adding someone to a project
  • Changing or removing a project member’s access
  • Transferring ownership of a project to someone else
  • Deleting a project
  • Queues
• Exams
  • Creating an exam
  • The exam editor
  • Admin controls
  • Questions
  • Display
  • Navigation
  • Feedback
  • Events
  • Settings
  • Access
  • Other versions
  • Editing history
• Diagnostic mode
  • Diagnostic algorithms
• Questions
  • Creating a question
  • The question editor
  • Admin controls
  • Content areas
  • Statement
  • Parts
  • Variables
  • Advice
  • Extensions & scripts
  • Resources
  • Settings
  • Testing
  • Access
  • Exams using this question
  • Other versions
  • Editing history
• Explore mode
  • Use cases
  • Parts in explore mode
  • Scoring
  • Next parts
  • Identifying the current part in JME
• Question parts
  • Generic part properties
  • Part types
  • Marking algorithm
  • Scripts
  • Alternative answers
  • Adaptive marking
• LaTeX notation
  • MathJax
• JME
  • Syntax
  • Data types
  • Function reference
• Marking algorithms
  • mark
  • interpreted_answer
  • Variables available to marking algorithms
  • Marking-specific JME functions
  • Pre-submit tasks
• Number notation
  • Styles of notation
  • Numbers in JME
• Substituting variables into displayed maths
  • Display options
  • Simplification rules
  • Display-only JME functions

Advanced topics

• Pattern-matching mathematical expressions
  • Pattern-matching syntax
  • Pattern-matching examples
• Javascript APIs
• Extensions
  • First-party extensions
  • Writing an extension
• Themes
  • Creating a theme in the editor
  • Access
  • Uploading a theme to the editor
  • Contents of a theme
  • HTML and XSLT templates
  • Building off an existing theme
• Custom part types
  • Creating a new part type
  • Description
  • Required extensions
  • Part settings
  • Answer input
  • Marking
  • Access
  • Examples

Running your own editor

• Installing an editor server
  • Installing on a web server
  • Upgrading
• Using the admin interface
  • Installing extensions
  • Downloading extensions from GitHub

Development

• Setting up a development environment
  • Pre-requisites
  • Set up a Python virtual environment
  • Clone the repositories
  • Install required Python packages
  • Set up the editor
  • Run the editor server
• Making changes to the runtime
  • Unit tests
  • Adding a JME function
• Building the documentation
  • Editor documentation
  • Runtime JavaScript API documentation