[Blindmath] A Blog Post on Pronunciation Guides for Mathematical Notation, Expressions, and Greek Letters

Mon Jun 28 15:18:58 UTC 2010

Hi,

Wow Bernard, I had no notion that people actually read the stuff I post to this list, let alone go into such depths.

Thanks

--- On Mon, 6/28/10, Bernard M Diaz <b.m.diaz at liverpool.ac.uk> wrote:

> From: Bernard M Diaz <b.m.diaz at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] A Blog Post on Pronunciation Guides for Mathematical Notation, Expressions, and Greek Letters
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: jtenenbg at uw.edu
> Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 7:33 PM
> Hi all,
> 
> With regard to the link below, it leads to good stuff, but
> I'd caution care in looking too much at the stuff
> generated
> by the sighted, me included :-)
> 
> The key trick with mathematics is "understanding" and this
> is
> not aided by bandying Fred Barnard's fallacious myth (used
> in
> two links pointed at from the link below) that "a picture
> is
> worth a thousand words" - just ask a sighted teacher
> trying
> to teach blind students :-)
> And what is meant by "picture", "worth", and "thousand"
> anyway?
> After all, we 'know' that a "word" is at least one million
> bits!
> Barnard, wiki tells us, was in advertising ink, mmm need I
> use a 1000 bits to 'say' more?
> The really good notion to stick to is that "radio has
> better
> pictures than cinema" - and I have no idea who said that?
> 
> Now, I WOULD ask a blind person how to do maths.  They
> usually
> know, because they appreciate that it is the
> "understanding"
> that is key.  And sadly, the psychologists do not have
> their
> handles on this yet, I believe.
> [This list is a shining/roaring example of what I say/write
> ...]
> 
> What is it that they "understand".  Well the
> difficulties in
> transcribing "my idea" into "your idea". "My idea" of
> linking
> two things is to draw a line; "your idea" might be to tie
> a
> piece of string to two chairs. The idea, the notion of
> "linkage"
> here is key - was it helped by my drawing? would it be
> more
> helped with your knotting?
> 
> They key to "the understanding", it is my belief, is to
> appreciate that the chimpanzee's brain can do it!  It
> may
> be that the slug's brain can do it too - here the
> psychologists
> and zoologists are currently silent, I believe. IF &
> that is a
> big if :-) IF this is true, then we can all do it - why do
> I
> say this, well because you've taken the time to read this
> far,
> and you've had the 'English' "voiced" to you by something -
> was
> it your brain?  It's just a matter of evolving to
> appreciate
> that we can. And, what is it that we need to evolve? -
> well
> the "language", the jargon, the notation, 'call' it what
> you
> will - "the voice and pictures in your head".
> 
> And what is that "language" etc ... we'll stick with the
> term "notation" for the moment. It's the sequential making
> of sound (we'll call it "voicing", N.B., not "reading"),
> and
> the appreciation that there is a secondary process, the
> "reading"
> of the meaning.  How was it transferred?  I'm not
> absolutely
> sure, but reading the well good mathematics book by a pair
> of
> psycholgists (I think they are anyway), I believe it is by
> the process of "analogy" or "mapping", from the voicing
> and
> reading of "your" idea into some (possibly intrinsic) "my"
> idea.
> Thus, they suggest, we "intrinsically" appreciate the
> notion
> of "infinity". We map the symbol we read (Cantor's Hebrew
> 'aleph' perhaps ...) into that intrinsic idea, and away we
> go.  We now have a picture (whoops) 'symbol', a
> notion, or
> notation, for what "he" meant, which "we" can now use ...
> it
> has been mapped to what we already knew, but didn't know
> (as
> it we re).  The search now becomes finding what else
> we knew
> we don't know [read this several times - it's a
> mathematical
> code ... :-) ...].
> The book is "Where mathematics comes from" by Lakoff and
> Nunez
> and I'm indebted to Josh Tenenberg, Co-Editor-in-Chief, ACM
> TOCE
> for pointing me at this excellent text, a must read (I
> believe)
> for all those interested in maths (and computing) pedagogy
> along with Lancelot Hogben's "Mathematics for the
> Million".
> [I'm not sure if either of these is in Braille and/or
> available
> as a speaking book? ... but they should be!]
> 
> Where does this get us? I hope to the practical bit. Take
> care
> to understand how you serialise (order into linear or
> sequential
> form) voiced single symbols.  Thus, 'voice'
> "script-greek lower
> delta squared" but appreciate that it is 'read' "second
> derivative"
> or whatever - look to the multitude of "readings", in the
> examples
> with this post/links to appreciate this.  Do not
> confuse reading
> the 2D layout, with how it is voiced - on one side; and how
> to
> read it, and what it may mean, on the other. 
> Appreciate, that
> voicing the 2D layout is not tantamount to the
> transcription
> of knowledge, nor is it a code, the learning of which is
> going
> to help (Nemeth Braille is wonderful, belive me, I can see
> it,
> and know it produces wonderful pictures!) nor so is
> Knuth's
> Latex with its cryptic parentheses, visual "piles" and
> "overs"
> that produces equally impressive text and expression
> pictures!
> [And by the way, "piles", and "overs" come, I believe,
> from
> heraldry, where a Norman "voice" (blazon) is used to
> describe
> an unique "picture" - shield or archievement; and it has
> been
> argued, constitutes the oldest "computer" 'language']
> 
> And once you have it, you have the mapping from him to
> you;
> take it and pass it to all - or as many as will listen.
> Lead, and remember, this is one subject where the blind do
> lead; you have a streets advantage, you know what it
> means,
> and more (I believe) can pass it on more successfully
> because
> hopefully, you understand how your understanding evolved!!
> 
> OK I'll say it again, "the radio produces better pictures
> than the cinema does", doesn't it?  Does it not depend
> on the
> tone of voice (I've in my head the wonderful voice of
> middle
> America what's his name, "W.O.B. Gone"?); or the content
> of
> the bits - which any computer can understand?
> 
> Kind regards, and apologies for trespassing on your time -
> Bernard Diaz
> 
> cc Josh Tenenberg with belated thanks for the
> recommendation.
> 
> Roopakshi Pathania wrote:
> > 
> > Actually I was going through the blog looking for R
> and LaTeX based
> > posts when I found this. Thought this would be of
> interest to
> > someone.
> > 
> >> From the blog:
> > 
> > When doing research in psychology you are sometimes
> required to study
> > new statistical or mathematical techniques on your
> own. However,
> > mathematical books rarely tell you how to pronounce
> the mathematical
> > symbols. And even if you know how to pronounce the
> symbols in
> > isolation, this does not guaranty that you can
> pronounce a
> > mathematical expression made up of multiple symbols.
> Being able to
> > read mathematical notation is a basic first step in
> aiding memory and
> > conceptual understanding. The following links provide
> resources on
> > reading mathematical symbols and provide a good
> reference if you
> > encounter symbols and expressions with which you are
> not familiar.
> > 
> > http://jeromyanglim.blogspot.com/2009/05/pronunciation-guides-for-mathematical.html
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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