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

Mon Jun 28 15:41:10 UTC 2010

> Now, I WOULD ask a blind person how to do moths.  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.

  Hey hey, those are fighting words to a blind psychologist (ok psychology 
graduate student) who studies spoken language comprehension (e.g., 
understanding) <smile>. Sorry, I just had to throw this in since I am in the 
middle of reading a paper all about how humans understand spoken words:).

  I actually really enjoyed your comments below especially in the 
picture/word comparisons.
Many thanks and have a wonderful Monday everyone!
Christine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bernard M Diaz" <b.m.diaz at liverpool.ac.uk>
To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" 
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: <jtenenbg at uw.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] A Blog Post on Pronunciation Guides for 
Mathematical Notation, Expressions, and Greek Letters

> 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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