[Blindmath] Calculator for Calculus and Linear Algebra

Wed Aug 4 15:55:37 UTC 2010

HI Peter,
  Do not let yourself get down. Math is not at all impossible for someone 
without sight. As someone who formerly also had vision, and who lost that 
vision in college, I can tell you that if you are determined, as you seem to 
be, and a bit creative you can accomplish anything that your sighted peers 
accomplish. However, it will take more time/work on your part but if you are 
determined nothing is impossible.

  Also, as someone with former vision, if you are good at visualizing (e.g., 
if you have good visual memory) this will be one of the most sincerely 
useful things for you. the way I succeeded in all lower and higher levels of 
math coursework (my research requires knowledge of general stats, physics, 
acoustics which requires knowledge of physics, some computer science, and 
calc) was to visualize what was being described in class. When the professor 
did not provide enough information for me to do so, I either simply asked a 
quick question or two that would provide me with the needed information or 
if I felt it would be a distraction to the topic, I simply quietly asked the 
person sitting next to me for the missing bit. If there will be a break soon 
in the lecture and you do not think the missing bit will hurt to wait you 
can always catch the professor at that time. I have found that (a) my 
professors and classmates have not seemed at all annoyed or dissatisfied 
with this approach, (b) sometimes asking for such missing bits in the 
description ends up adding more for your sighted peers as well (e.g., 
information the professor inadvertently did not speak and just assumed was 
being conveyed to the others that had not been reciprocated), (c) can 
provide you with a wealth of information, and (d) can prove to demonstrate 
to your sighted peers that vision is not everything. I have had several 
situations where my fellow classmates and professors have told me that often 
I am clearly understanding more than my sighted peers in the lecture 
material.

  Hope that helps and good luck with the classes.

  Remember that a little worry is good but a lot of fear tends to cause 
reduced success. Thus, start off with the attitude that you can succeed and 
not the attitude that  you will fail or you likely will.
Many thanks,
Christine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Wolfe" <sunspot005 at gmail.com>
To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" 
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 11:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Calculator for Calculus and Linear Algebra

> Nelson,
>
>
>
>    I'd agree that college for the most part is about theory with
> little to no practical knowledge in my experience. If you have ever
> been in an Intro to Logics course you sort of understand with those
> silly things like horeshoes, wedges, dots and other operators in a
> deductive problem to rearrange a statement to be morje symbolically
> logical. However, most people understand Logic for what it is and that
> is being deductive reasoning. I want to point out the COO of Apple who
> gave a speach here at Auburn University had a Inudustrial Design
> degree and now is one of the top most executives at Apple Computers.
>     It's all about critical thinking and to an extent anything can
> make you feel this way like natural sciences to music and mathematics
> is just one way of getting to the level in which we speak. However,
> cryptology is for hackers not so much for designers as much. If you
> would read from Bill Snyder from New York you could easily tell this.
> Moreover, I think advanced mathematics on a visually impaired level
> would be difficult as you would need to coorilate the individual
> strings from different levels processing them all at the same time.
> College needs a serious 21st century overhaul cause obviously its not
> working for both staff and student alike. Nobody comes out of here
> that much understanding what they took or why they took it.
>     I actually am trying to see if you could explain to me off list
> exactly how your math can help computer science students? How far in
> math and such did you go? I'm starting and am nervous cause being
> blind and doing math appears to be impossible. I hate to say it but I
> miss my vision so bad now. I used to kick ass on mathematics in Texas
> hard core and Nevada in Las Vegas as well. Now it seems like a faded
> memory. If you guys ty to e-mail me on friday morning or afternoon I'm
> out cause of moving. See yea guys later.
>
> In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
> Peter
>
> On 8/4/10, Joseph C. Lininger <jbahm at pcdesk.net> wrote:
>> Peter,
>> I am coming late to this discussion, but I can comment as to why the 
>> level
>> of math is required. There are a few reasons actually. First, there are
>> actually a lot of situations in computer programming and software
>> engineering where advanced mathematics will serve you. Examples include
>> algorithm analysis, designing of new algorithms, system level 
>> programming,
>> and others. It's interesting to note that many of the computer algorithms
>> we use were designed by mathematicians. If you look at data compression, 
>> for
>> instance, it's mostly a problem of probability and information theory.
>> Cryptography is almost entirely mathematical in nature. For basic
>> programming you're right. But if you want to design advanced algorithms,
>> analyze existing ones, or even choose between two existing ones for your
>> specific situation knowledge of mathematics is a must have. As a final
>> statement on this particular point I would like to point out that there 
>> are
>> algorithms out there which are only expressed in terms of the 
>> mathematical
>> operations required to carry out the algorithm.
>>
>> There is a second reason I think they make a computer science student 
>> take
>> all the math and hard science they do. I think a portion of the course 
>> work
>> is designed to instill a certain way of thinking and problem solving. If 
>> you
>> compare the process needed to design a software system to that required 
>> to
>> solve a word problem in mathematics, you'll find there are a lot of
>> similarities.
>>
>> When you study computer science, you're not just learning how to write a
>> program. You're learning about computing in general, software 
>> engineering,
>> and yes, programming. With larger software systems, the battle isn't the
>> code itself. With a proper design, the actual writing of the code is much
>> easier. It's hard to see that for smaller projects, though. In my 
>> opinion,
>> that's one problem some colleges have with their computer science 
>> programs.
>> They emphasize the need to design and use all these tools they give you, 
>> but
>> you don't really have to for the tasks they set for you. It's like me 
>> giving
>> you a bulldoser and telling you to use it to knock over a house of cards. 
>> A
>> simple puff of air would do the job just fine. The result is that a lot 
>> of
>> people don't understand why things they're being taught are important, so 
>> it
>> doesn't stick as well as it should.
>>
>> I apologize if this seems a bit wordy. I felt the need to respond though
>> because I used to feel as you do. I couldn't understand why on earth I
>> should have to take mathematics to program a computer. I felt that way 
>> until
>> I got into more of the upper division undergrad computer science courses.
>> Then I started to understand how the mathematics applied to the topic of
>> computer science as a whole. If you're just getting started, just stick 
>> with
>> it and you'll start to see why they made you do it. One tip. Make sure 
>> you
>> understand the math as you go. It'll be a lot harder if you don't. That's 
>> a
>> lesson I had to learn the hard way.
>> Joe
>>
>> Peter Wolfe writes:
>>
>>> Sarah and others,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      Thank you for your timely reply to my calculator question. How
>>> would you configure a  problem with a solution step by step then in
>>> calculus? I'm wondering how much do I need to keep in my head and what
>>> are some tips on strategies of working calculus problems? Well, I have
>>> had precalculus like two and a half years ago and I forgot most of it
>>> unfortunately. At the time, I thought that I was going to be a
>>> politician but realized you have to be too pc for that arena. You also
>>> are the wimb of voters, ethics, pay cuts or forloughs, bureaucracy and
>>> etc. I'm now going to computer science and I've programmed before and
>>> really don't see why you need this level of mathematics to do
>>> operators or compiling much of anything at all other than domain
>>> registeration or some bios or software archaetecture course work which
>>> only probably 10% of the overall programming career actually pursuits.
>>> Most programming in my experience is dealing with algebra like
>>> variables, coefficients, standard four operations and etc not really
>>> advanced mathematics.
>>>
>>> On 8/3/10, sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca <sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca> 
>>> wrote:
>>>> Peter,
>>>> If you have a standard scientific calculator that works for you, you
>>>> should be ok. Most universities won't let you use them for tests and
>>>> exams etc. though.
>>>> As far as what you need to know, I think we'd need to know about your
>>>> academic background. however, if you have some algebra, trig, and
>>>> geometry behind you you can grasp calculus.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Quoting Peter Wolfe <sunspot005 at gmail.com>:
>>>>
>>>>> To Blind Math list,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     I'm wondering if my talking scientific calculator could do Cal I,
>>>>> II and III and Linear Algebra work? I'm in particular wondering about
>>>>> Calculus I for the fall semester. Also, it would be helpful if anyone
>>>>> off list could tell me what sort of things you would need to know
>>>>> before starting calculus. I'm about to get a allgebra book an geometry
>>>>> with trigenemetry or whatever. Thanks for any suggestions (e.g.
>>>>> talking graphing calculators or other equipment with URLS or price or
>>>>> suggestions in general to my sunspot005 at gmail.com address.
>>>>>
>>>>> God bless,
>>>>> Peter
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Peter Q. Wolfe, AS
>>>>> sunspot005 at gmail.com
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Blindmath mailing list
>>>>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
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>>>>> for Blindmath:
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/sarah.jevnikar%40utoronto.ca
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Peter Q. Wolfe, AS
>>> sunspot005 at gmail.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> -- 
> Peter Q. Wolfe, AS
> sunspot005 at gmail.com
>
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