Today, Google announced the addition to Google Docs of some useful new features for academic use. Google Docs has added a new equation editor for mathematics teachers and students. There is a new subscript and superscript tool that can be used in writing chemical compounds and mathematics equations. Earlier this summer Google Translate was integrated into Google Docs allowing users to translate parts or all of a document (I’ve seen some reports that the translate option isn’t terribly accurate for all languages so make sure you double check the translation).

Applications for Education
The new equation editor, subscript, and superscript tools make it possible for math and science teachers and their students to use Google Docs for more of their document creations. Now online collaborative document creation isn’t limited to the humanities. Science and mathematics students can now collaborate to solve equations.