[Blindmath] Can PDF math texts be accessed via screen reader?

Louis Maher ljmaher at swbell.net
Fri Apr 10 02:00:55 UTC 2009


Hello,

If I have a journal article in pdf, or any other type of electronic format,
is it necessary to print the pages, and then scan them back into the
computer for Infty to translate them?

Regards
Louis Maher


-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of P. R. Stanley
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 4:47 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Can PDF math texts be accessed via screen reader?

"  It's not cheap at $900, but it is the only game in town."

You do not have to pay $900 for infty reader. The commandline version 
of the infty reader is freely available and if anyone wants a copy 
feel free to email me offlist.
Paul
At 03:07 09/04/2009, you wrote:
>Hello Richard.  The Infty Reader can do OCR of PDF and is surprisingly good
>at getting both the math and text right.  It's not cheap at $900, but it is
>the only game in town.
>
>See
>http://www.inftyproject.org/
>Their ChattyInfty accessible math editor has a bit of a learning curve, but
>works well also.  Both these products are made by a university research
team
>and do not have easy user-friendly interfaces.  But they do work.
>
>By the way, it is absolutely not true that you cannot access the graphs and
>diagrams.  Look at the ViewPlus IVEO Creator Pro package.  You'll need a
>ViewPlus embosser to make the tactile copy, but it also works well.  Lots
of
>money for software and hardware, but at least today you have really full
>access to math and science.  Wasn't tru a couple of years ago.
>http://www.viewplus.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Richard Dinger
>Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 5:05 PM
>To: BlindMath
>Subject: [Blindmath] Can PDF math texts be accessed via screen reader?
>
>Hello,
>
>Sorry, this is a bit long.
>
>I have spent most of my working career as a software engineer and recently
I
>have been looking into neural networks and linear classifiers.  That led to
>support vector machines and compact vector machines, which leads to linear
>algebra in general.  So my initial interest/question for this group was
>where can I find an accessible text on undergraduate level linear algebra?
>
>I took linear algebra 40 years ago at the University of Washington, but
>recall very little of that course.  But then that question led to what may
>be a broader question for this group, namely, what are some solid
approaches
>to accessing mathematics texts in PDF via computer screen reader.  I
mention
>PDF texts as I see many of them offered while googling topics.
>
>When I say access I mean access to both the written text and at least some
>access to any equations.  I understand that graphs and diagrams will not be
>accessible, but can usually be infered from the text.
>
>I would be completely happy if equations were in some markup language like
>La Tex as that can eventually be understood.
>
>Are there any commercial products that can convert text and equations to
>some other format such as word?
>
>Finally, is pursuing PDF a fools errand?
>
>I will post on a different thread regarding La Tex.
>
>Richard
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