[Blindmath] Reading, Doing and Writing math for a newcomer

[Roopakshi Pathania]

Hi Philip,

As always, Michael has done a nice job in summarizing the current state of technology in making Math accessible.
I would offer a few more points since I also have a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Learning LaTeX-
If you plan to continue in subjects like Economics, Statistics, or Finance, you need to have a grasp on LaTeX. I couldn’t have survived with out it. You will be able to easily read and write Mathematics.  

InftyReader-
You would probably need to purchase this software in the long run. I understand that in US, your college provides you material in an accessible format. But I’m not sure that if the same rule holds for books and articles that you would need to go through for your projects and related research.

Working with Diagrams-
Besides tactile tablets, there are also tools available for sonification of graphs and charts.
But I haven’t found a satisfactory way of interpreting diagrams and charts independently and immediately, especially those found in Economics and Finance. 
I know that Prof. Gardner will probably object to my statement, but I will maintain my stand.

Statistical Applications-
Yes, you need to know Excel well. You would also need to learn a more serious statistical application again in the long run. According to my research, applications like Stata, SPSS, SAS, and R are accessible to a certain extent. The degree of accessibility varies.

Excel Macros-
I know that you asked this question separately, but I’m including my response here.
Macros are written in VBA editor, which is accessible. For writing Macros, you have to learn Visual Basic Applications (VBA).

Regards
Roopakshi from India

"Chaos Theory is a new theory invented by scientists panicked by the thought that the public were beginning to understand the old ones." 
~ Mike Barfield.


--- On Thu, 6/4/09, Philip So <pcs2001 at caa.columbia.edu> wrote:

> From: Philip So <pcs2001 at caa.columbia.edu>
> Subject: [Blindmath] Reading, Doing and Writing math for a newcomer
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Date: Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7:40 AM
> Hello All,
> My name is Philip.  I am rather new to this and would
> appreciate it
> very much if you could advise me on how to make math texts
> accessible
> by ear, do math and write math with the computer.  I
> began using JAWS
> and reading very simple Braille 2 months ago. 
> Previously for many
> years, I was able to read large print and had been using
> Zoom-Text.
> My Bachelor's degree is in Economics, and I don't want my
> most recent
> vision loss to stop my plan to pursue a graduate degree in
> a
> quantitative-leaning social science field in the near
> future.
> I have come across names like Infty Reader, Abby Fine,
> Chatty Infty,
> WinTriangle, Daisy, Math Daisy, etc. and would especially
> appreciate
> if you could share with me how all these work together to
> do the 3
> tasks: read math texts, math equations and tables by ear,
> do math, and
> write math.
> Thank you very much for your very kind help.
> Best regards,
> Philip
> Email: pcs2001 at caa.columbia.edu
> 
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