Generating math exercises for kids

Here’s a simple Python script which generates math exercises for kids. It uses the Century Schoolbook font which is said to be well readable and LaTeX’s longtable. I just ran some tests, generating 24’000 lines on 2000 pages was no deal at all.

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding: utf-8
import random
import os
 
min = 1 # number to start with
max = 10 # maximum number
count = 24 # 12 fit on one page
 
with open('Aufgaben.tex', 'w') as texfile:
	texfile.write("\\documentclass[15pt,ngerman]{scrartcl}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage{tgschola,longtable}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}\n")
	texfile.write("\\setlength{\\parindent}{0pt}\n")
	texfile.write("\\pagestyle{empty}\n")
	texfile.write("\\renewcommand*{\\arraystretch}{1.5}\n")
	texfile.write("\\begin{document}\n")
	texfile.write("\\huge\n")
	texfile.write("\\begin{longtable}{cccp{8cm}c}")
 
	for i in range(count):
		a = random.randint(min, max)
		b = random.randint(min, max)
 
		result = a + b;
 
		texfile.write('%s &+ &%s &= &%s \\\\ \\hline\n'%(str(a),str(b),str(result)))
 
	texfile.write("\\end{longtable}\n")
	texfile.write("\\end{document}\n")
 
os.system("pdflatex Aufgaben.tex")
os.startfile("Aufgaben.pdf") # this line may not work under Linux

With little modification one can also generate substraction exercises:

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding: utf-8
import random
 
min = 1
max = 12
count = 24
 
import os # for sys calls
 
with open('Aufgaben.tex', 'w') as texfile:
	texfile.write("\\documentclass[15pt,ngerman]{scrartcl}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage{tgschola,nicefrac,longtable}\n")
	texfile.write("\\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}\n")
	texfile.write("\\setlength{\\parindent}{0pt}\n")
	texfile.write("\\pagestyle{empty}\n")
	texfile.write("\\renewcommand*{\\arraystretch}{1.5}\n")
	texfile.write("\\begin{document}\n")
	texfile.write("\\huge\n")
	texfile.write("\\begin{longtable}{cccp{8cm}c}")
 
	for i in range(count):
		b = random.randint(min, max)
		a =  b + random.randint(1, 9)
 
		result = a - b;
 
		texfile.write('%s &- &%s &= &%s \\\\ \\hline\n'%(str(a),str(b),str(result)))
 
	texfile.write("\\end{longtable}\n")
	texfile.write("\\end{document}\n")
 
os.system("pdflatex Aufgaben.tex")
os.startfile("Aufgaben.pdf")

Uwe

Uwe Ziegenhagen likes LaTeX and Python, sometimes even combined. Do you like my content and would like to thank me for it? Consider making a small donation to my local fablab, the Dingfabrik Köln. Details on how to donate can be found here Spenden für die Dingfabrik.

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