[Blindmath] psychology statistical diagrams

Tue Oct 26 17:33:45 UTC 2010

I was a constant user of mathematica in my undergrad and my student makes frequent use of wolfram alpha.  I have not been to this site though and look forward to going there.

Your Friend,
Sean Richards Tikkun
jaquis at mac.com

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On Oct 26, 2010, at 12:09 PM, Bernard M Diaz wrote:

> Hi, you probably know about this website ... there lots of other
> stuff there too; but with a "Mathematica" slant, which may not be
> your cup of tea ...
> 
>> http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/tutorial/MathematicalAndOtherNotationOverview.html
> 
> Apologies if this was not what you were thinking of ... and I've
> not checked if it is all accessible.
> 
> Bernard Diz.
> 
> Sean Tikkun wrote:
>> I am willing and excited to write that book if no one has yet.  There
>> is a long tradition in mathematics of explaining symbols.  It went
>> out of style when Hilbert advocated for a standard method of
>> mathematical writing.  If people in this list serv.  Know of such a
>> book let me know... But I would love to write it, and as my student
>> finishes his last 2 years of high school I will have a wonderful
>> daily reminder of what symbols should be in there.  Physics,
>> Chemistry, Statistics and Calculus in his last two years....  my
>> students love or hate me for my encouragement!
>> On Oct 25, 2010, at 4:00 PM, Birkir R?nar Gunnarsson wrote:
>>> Not sure this would the the best context to bring this up. But I
>>> have always felt that a little more understanding of how sighted
>>> people see and do things would benefit us blind folks, or at least
>>> some of us (can't generalize, in general). I've always wanted a
>>> book that explains the characters (using raised lines or fusing or
>>> something), explains how to cross multiply, how square roots look,
>>> what a super script and a subscript looks like in text, what the
>>> big dividing line is and how it looks in a set up. How does an
>>> integral look, what about a sum, etc.
>>> I know some braille codes try to immitate this, which is cool, and
>>> I know we can't really work that way, but I think it'd be cool
>>> tohave a standard book that showed this, along with the printed
>>> symbols. It'd be neat to hve a standard book of sighted mathematics
>>> or something along those lines, and it would come with some basic diagrams that are popular, (bell curve, graphs of distributions,
>>> sum of least squares) perhaps even 3d models of the most common
>>> shapes usd in mathematics. I managed just fine without these
>>> things, but I think the lessons are getting more and more sight
>>> centric and I think I would've spent my time in class better, had I
>>> had a better understanding of what the professor/teacher was doing.
>>> May be such a book exists, may be I am the only one who finds this
>>> idea attractive, but since it seems vaguely relevant to this discussion I figured I'd throw it out there. Cheers -B?
>>> On 10/25/10, Larry Wayland <larry.wayland at arkansas.gov> wrote:
>>>> I agree with Lloyd on this.  I do not think there is anyway a
>>>> three dimensional representation can be adequately done using a
>>>> Braille drawing. Indicating three dimensions on a two dimension
>>>> plane is done by using optical allusions.  You can't do that
>>>> tactually.  The lines are all there but they just will not look
>>>> three dimensional. Larry
>>>> Larry Wayland -----Original Message----- From:
>>>> blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
>>>> [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rasmussen,
>>>> Lloyd Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 2:15 PM To: Blind Math list
>>>> for those interested in mathematics Subject: Re: [Blindmath]
>>>> psychology statistical diagrams
>>>> As a totally blind electronics engineer who got his bachelor's
>>>> degree in the 1960's, I think that getting an understanding of
>>>> three-dimensional concepts from two-dimensional drawings has
>>>> severe limitations.  Is this an isometric or perspective
>>>> projection?  From what distance is the "object" being viewed?
>>>> Talk to the people in the math department who study topology.  Do
>>>> they ever make solid models of the shapes they are describing
>>>> algebraically?  Note that the solution to the problem of everting
>>>> a sphere (turning it inside out) was first proposed by a French
>>>> blind mathematician.  He visualized what sighted people were
>>>> unable to visualize.
>>>> Talk to people in mechanical engineering or industrial design
>>>> departments about stereolithography or 3D printing, where
>>>> numerically controlled machines are used to create solid models
>>>> (quite expensively and slowly).
>>>> Going these routes will not get you all the drawings your
>>>> textbooks use, but they should get you enough information and
>>>> examples so that you understand the concepts, in some cases more
>>>> correctly than sighted students will from the limited viewpoint
>>>> of paper and blackboards.
>>>> Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Project Engineer National Library Service
>>>> for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library of Congress
>>>> 202-707-0535 http://www.loc.gov/nls The preceding opinions are my
>>>> own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of
>>>> Congress, NLS.
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
>>>> [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernard M Diaz
>>>> Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 2:00 PM To: Rasmussen, Lloyd;
>>>> Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics Subject: Re:
>>>> [Blindmath] psychology statistical diagrams
>>>> Hi,
>>>> I've experience of generating only one diagram that NEEDED 3D - a
>>>> plane embedded in 3D; that is a "surface"; and yes used the Tiger
>>>> system.  It took about 2 days playing to get a not too successful
>>>> result, which we did not use in the end!
>>>> I'm clearly not very good at this sort of thing, it needs an
>>>> artistic (I think that's the best word) flourish which I guess I
>>>> don't have.  And I guess, my knowledge of 3D use is limited too
>>>> ... I'm sorry I've not looked at economic stuff, trends, and time
>>>> series stuff - which I suspect could all benefit from the 3D
>>>> aspect you suggest.  I suspect, for each, it would be useful to
>>>> know the approach chosen - if anyone attempts to do (or has done
>>>> it) please do share your findings.
>>>> Simple "images" (essentially phtographic stuff rendered into
>>>> "tonal pictures") e.g. most of the Tiger examples I've looked at:
>>>> flowers parts, coloured country diagrams, digestive systems, most
>>>> maps - all work well. Where there is an attempt to get tonal
>>>> representation to mimic depth cueing - what I've done suggests:
>>>> a) its hard, and b) not too successful at getting over what is
>>>> intended.  But, as I say, perhaps I'm not thinking about this in
>>>> the correct way - and would appreciate pointers.
>>>> A final note.  Many staff use Powerpoint. Where a diagram is
>>>> involved I suggest that they copy the "slide" then edit that to
>>>> remove all but the diagram.  Enlarge that so that it fuses
>>>> correctly ("touchably" .... is that the correct word? This also
>>>> involves thinking about any colour coding used) and provide in
>>>> the "notes" section for that slide a textual description of the
>>>> diagram using the language guideline mentioned before.  Then,
>>>> those slides are "hidden" with a note that they are for
>>>> "accessibility purposes". The idea is that the student (or
>>>> teacher) can fuse the diagram (slide object); Jaws the notes
>>>> section (notes object) while "touching" the fused version, and
>>>> have Jaws read any text on the slide proper as well. ...
>>>> _______________________________________________ Blindmath mailing
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