WordMath and antivirus problems

For some time, WordMath has been flagged as malware by various antivirus programs. This is a false positive, meaning the antivirus software incorrectly identifies WordMath as malicious.

The program download may also be blocked by browsers like Chrome.

What causes this problem?

The exact cause is unknown, but antivirus programs scan files using AI, sandboxes, and heuristic analysis. One of these scans likely triggers a malware alert. This is probably because VBA add-ons, like WordMath, are essentially programs embedded in Word documents. Since VBA add-ons can be exploited to distribute malware, antivirus programs tend to be highly sensitive to this type of software and may flag code patterns or techniques commonly associated with malicious behavior.

WordMath is a complex program that employs various methods, some of which can also be used for malicious purposes, such as:

• Calling external programs (e.g., running Maxima on Mac)

• Opening web links in a browser (e.g., for updates)

• Downloading files from the internet (e.g., checking for updates, downloading GeoGebra)

• Custom message boxes (which could be mistaken for impersonation attempts)

• Custom webview browsers (for executing CAS GeoGebra)

• Communication with external custom API DLLs (for Maxima communication)

Multiple attempts have been made to adjust code methods and techniques, but these changes have had little impact on antivirus detection.

The increasing number of global cyberattacks likely explains why antivirus programs are becoming more aggressive in their detection mechanisms.

Interestingly, not all versions of WordMath are affected, despite sharing nearly identical code. However, all recent versions are consistently blocked.

What can you do?

You have two options:

1. Manually allow WordMath to run:

   • Exempt the file from antivirus scans. Every antivirus program and browser has a way to do this, but the exemption must be manually configured on each machine.

   • If the download is blocked, try an alternative browser. For example, Microsoft Edge typically does not block the download.

2. Sign up for a Partnership:

   • Partnership with Eduap grant your school or organization access to code-signed files. Code signing increases trust with most antivirus programs and reduces the likelihood of false positives. While not foolproof, care is taken to ensure Microsoft Defender allows the software to run.

WordMat v. 1.26 released

This version release solves many of the issues reported on Github issues.

No changes has been made to the Maxima CAS engine in this release. That is a very cumbersome task, which also risks introducing new errors, and which will make antivirus programs report WordMat as a virus (false positive) for a few months. It is hoped this release will be stable and not cause many issues in updating. (no promises 😬)

List of changes:

• GeoGebra updated
• Differential equation solver now has button to numerically solve the differential equation
• Support for f'(x)=... notation in differential equations
• Numerical solver for differential equations: improved and bugs resolved.
• Complete support for piecewise-defined functions in calculations and graphplotting with GnuPlot or GeoGebra
• Problems with Formulae in the menu resolved
• Formulae for confidence interval added to binomial menu
• Excel sheet 'Statistik': columns expanded to show more digits
• Excel sheet 'Simulering' has a new binomial example
• New shortcut overview
• MikTex support fixed (still in Beta)
• Support for another way of entering vectors in Word.
• Solved problem with vector calculations using GeoGebra
• Several minor bug fixes

Thanks to all the people who reported issues on Github.

If you find an issue please report in on Github. It can take a long time before the issue is resolved, but there is hope this will improve thanks to the Partnership program

WordMat v. 1.24

This is a major release with a number of new featues, focusing on a stronger interaction with GeoGebra

News in this version:

• Alternate CAS engine: GeoGebra
• Maxima version aligned and updated to 5.45.1 for Windows and both Mac-versions
• New Plotting option: 'GeoGebra Browser'
• Much faster than GeoGebra 5
• Still runs offline and does not require internet access 
• GnuPlot removed from the Mac version. It never really worked well on Mac. The new 'GeoGebra browser' plotting option replaces it.
• Simultaneous equation solving now works on Mac-M1
• Volume of revolution now works on Mac with GeoGebra
• 3D plot now works on Mac
• Numeric differential equation solver now works on Mac
• Convertion to GeoGebra syntax now also works for vectors and matrices (dot product, has to be applied using dot(u,v), not by using a dot-operator)
• Latex template now works on Mac
• Many minor bug fixes

GeoGebra Browser plotting option

WordMat now ships with 'GeoGebra-math-app-bundle' which is used for the 'GeoGebra Browser' plotting option. It is easy to insert a screenshot of the plot:

• From the GeoGebra menu choose 'Export image' and 'copy to clipboard'. Finally paste into Word.
• On Windows GeoGebra will open in Edge.
  Click 'ctrl+chift +s' to take a screenshot and choose from 'Capture area' or 'Capture full page'
• On Mac GeoGebra will open in Safari.
  Click Shift+Command+4 to capture a selected portion of a screen.
  
  

GeoGebra for CAS

The 'GeoGebra-math-app-bundle' is also used as an alternative/backup CAS engine. In the settings menu on the CAS-tab, you can now choose between

1. Maxima
2. GeoGebra
3. GeoGebra broweser

If you do any calculation or solve an equation, the chosen CAS engine will be applied.
An alternative CAS engine has a couple of obvious benefits:

• If one engine fails to solve a particular problem, you might have better luck trying the alternative. 
• Maxima has been shown to be very vulnerable to changes in updates to MacOS. Now there is a backup. 

GeoGebra CAS option

With this option WordMat operates just as with Maxima. The result is written directly in Word. The user will in most cases not see any difference.
The input syntax in Word is basically the same for both engines, but there are some differences.

Generally Maxima is a stronger CAS tool, and more consistent. It also has a larger library of functions to draw from. However GeoGebra also has functions which are better than Maxima's. GeoGebra is also faster.

Key points to be aware of:

• Be careful when using variables of more than one letter, when using GeoGebra. ab can be interpreted as a*b or the variabel ab, depending on the circumstances. 

  Note on GeoGebra CAS on Mac

On Mac GeoGebra runs in a tab in safari, which is automatically opened. WordMat can then send and receive commands in the background.
Unfortunately it requires a special setting in Safari to allow 3rd party programs to send commands to Safari.

1. Open Safari settings
2. Click advanced
3. At the bottom click 'show developer menu'
4. Open the newly available Safari developer menu
5. Click 'Allow javascript from Apple events' (near the bottom of the list)
6. When doing the first calculation with WordMat you will be prompted to allow it.

Make sure not to allow javascript communication from other programs you don't trust.

GeoGebra browser CAS option
Will open GeoGebra in a browser and show the answer to a calculation, equation solving etc.. Definitions are applied just as in the Maxima case. The syntax is converted to GeoGebra syntax. trig functions are applied according to the radian setting in WordMat. Just as the 'GeoGebra browser' plotting option, you can then copy the result to Word.

It is important to stress that WordMat does not communicate via internet when using the GeoGebra options, even though it works via a browser. All required files are installed and run on the local computer.

WordMat for Mac M1 released

This is the first release that support the 'new' Mac M1 processor.

A number of problems had to be overcome to create this release. The main problem was that the Math engine 'Maxima' did not run on M1-processor with the rosetta emulator.

1. First the compiler for SBCL that compiles Maxima had to be created for Maxima. 
   
   
2. Maxima for WordMat was running an older version of Maxima, because the deployment system for newer systems changed to Macports. Eventually I could use Macports to get a compiled version of Maxima for M1. The installer had to rewritten from scratch.
   
   
3. WordMat does not run a standard version of Maxima, but included a lot of additional code. This code had to be updated to match the new Maxima version.
   
   
4. The c-library to communicate between Maxima and Windows was easily compiled for M1, but I simply could not make it work with the new version of Maxima, after many, many attempts. Eventually a new method for communication was developed. The new method starts a new instance of Maxima for each calculation. This makes WordMat a bit slower, but not much as the M1-processor is pretty fast. Coming from a 2 year old computer you will not notice it. 

The new method has a couple of advantages that should make WordMat more stable for Mac:

• A fresh version of Maxima for every calculation means previous calculation cannot interfere
• The new method has a default timeout of about 15s. If Maxima does not finish, the process will be killed. On previous versions this could halt Word.

WordMat v. 1.12 released

This release mainly fixes bugs from the previous major release, such as problems with logarithms and using exact mode on the Mac version, but also several other minor bugs.

This version introduces one new feature: An updated Excel sheets to easily do regression and plot residuals. It can be a tool for both mathematics and science subjects to make graphing in Excel easier and better looking.
You open the Excel sheet from the regressions menu or the Graph menu.

The screenshot below shows some of the features

• Enter up to 3 datasets which shows up as points in different colors
• Perform 'on the fly' regression, quickly testing the match of different regression types
• Residual plot to better analyze the regression fit
• Manually enter any function (here the black dashed linje 2x+3)
  You can enter a function using constants which then can be manipulated in the constants column for a precise fit.
• Highlight any point (the red dashed line)

Backspace crash problem resolved

For years there has been a bug in Word which would crash Word on certain occasions, if you pressed backspace in an equation.
Microsoft has now resolved the problem - all you need to do is update Office 365. It must be at least build 7070. (Files | Account | Office updates)

WordMat for Mac - Word 2016 released

Finally you can download the new version for Mac for Word 2016.
The code behind the Windows and Mac version is now from the same code base and hence the version numbers will be the same for Windows and Mac. It is planned that future releases for Windows and Mac will happen simultaneously. The current version is called v. 1.11

Also with this version WordMat is now 100% translated into english, and partially to spanish. The code has been prepared for translation into other languages. If you wish to contribute by translating WordMat completely or partially into your native language - send me an email.

This version also brings a popular function to the front of the menu. You can open a LaTex template from the WordMat menu and start creating LaTex documents using Word.

Get the new version here: www.eduap.com