[Blindmath] [Fwd: Re: Braille Editions? [Fwd: Books by Martin Gardner]]

Mon Nov 23 19:24:23 UTC 2009

Hi,

the recommended strategy seems to be to locate PDF e-Book versions of 
Martin Gardner's work, and then
use accessible PDF file readers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner ->
Gathering for Gardner conference site -> http://g4g4.com
downloadable Gardner tribute e-book (The Mathemagician and Pied Puzzler) ->
http://www.g4g4.com/contentsmmpp1.html

-Stewart, http://us.imdb.com/Name?Stewart+Dickson
http://emsh.calarts.edu/~mathart/Tactile_Math.html
http://www.ifp.illinois.edu/~sdickson/Tactile_Math.html

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: Braille Editions? [Fwd: [Blindmath] Books by Martin Gardner]
Date: 	Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:33:30 -0800 (PST)
From: 	Ed Pegg Jr <ed at mathpuzzle.com>
Reply-To: 	ed at mathpuzzle.com
To: 	tom rodgers <thomasmrodgers at gmail.com>, Stewart Dickson 
<MathArt at Emsh.CalArts.edu>

Get the PDF version that has all the books.  I believe there are PDF to 
voice readers, as well as PDF to braille.

--Ed Pegg Jr   http://www.mathpuzzle.com

--- On *Mon, 11/23/09, Stewart Dickson /<MathArt at Emsh.CalArts.edu>/* wrote:

    From: Stewart Dickson <MathArt at Emsh.CalArts.edu>
    Subject: Braille Editions? [Fwd: [Blindmath] Books by Martin Gardner]
    To: "tom rodgers" <thomasmrodgers at gmail.com>, "Ed Pegg"
    <ed at mathpuzzle.com>
    Date: Monday, November 23, 2009, 8:22 AM

    This list is administered by the National Federation for the Blind (NFB)

    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject: 	[Blindmath] Books by Martin Gardner
    Date: 	Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:02:57 +0530
    From: 	Ramana Polavarapu <sriramana at gmail.com>
    Reply-To: 	Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
    <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
    To: 	<andrew.stacey at math.ntnu.no>, "'Blind Math list for those
    interested in mathematics'" <blindmath at nfbnet.org>

    Hi Andrew and other list members,

    I am looking for accessible copies of the books by Martin Gardner.  Does
    anyone have any idea where I can get them?  Thank you.

    Best regards,

    Ramana
    P.S. I changed the subject of this mail message since it is not directly
    connected to "Intro".

    -----Original Message-----
    From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
    Behalf Of Andrew Stacey
    Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 1:37 PM
    To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
    Subject: Re: [Blindmath] intro

    Hi,

    First up, I'm a sighted
     mathematician.  So I can't say anything about the
    hows and how-nots of doing mathematics with partial sight or no sight.
    However, a couple of things in this exchange have made me want to chip in
    from my perspective as a mathematician.

    1. To get this out of the way, LaTeX is a typesetting system which is very
    well suited to writing mathematics.  However, it is like a programming
    language and so when you read it, you almost never read the actual source:
    you read a compiled version.  From what I've read on this mailing list, it
    seems that if what you need is not available in a suitable format then it
    can be useful to get hold of the LaTeX source and read that.  However, I
    would hope that there were suitable texts for you at the level that you
    describe so that you don't need to worry about LaTeX yet.  To give some
    context, I didn't start using LaTeX until my third year of undergraduate
    studies.

    2. Let me say
     this very loudly.

          Mathematics is not taught in school.

    What is taught in school is numeracy, not mathematics.  Occasionally there
    are glimpses of what is real mathematics, but for the most part it's pure
    and simple numeracy.  Mathematics is about spotting patterns and seeing
    connections.  Mathematics is the science of ideas: we invent a game, lay out
    the rules, and then simply play it to see what happens.  What, perhaps,
    separates us out from other subjects is that when we play a game then we
    play strictly by the rules: we never break them.  On the other hand, we do
    our best to circumvent them.  (I should say that we also have no problem
    inventing and adding new rules: if we see some behaviour that we don't like
    then we say "New rule!  No huffing above the diagonal."  However, then we
    have a new game and we don't pretend that the old game is the same as the
    new game.)

    As well as what you are
     doing, I would recommend getting copies of the books
    by Martin Gardner.  He used to write columns for Scientific American on
    mathematical ideas.  All of the ones that I've read have been accessible to
    almost anyone and all are about simply playing with ideas.  I find that an
    excellent introduction to what mathematics really is, rather than what is
    taught.

    Lastly on this point, I didn't find mathematics particularly interesting
    until my third year of undergraduate.  And I was doing a mathematics degree
    (that is, 100% mathematics - I was in the UK where, unlike the US, you don't
    "major"
    in a subject, you do just that subject).

    Andrew

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