[Blindmath] psychology statistical diagrams

Tue Oct 26 17:40:21 UTC 2010

That's a nice reference update to the manual I used back in 1993.  I've been an advocate of using Mathematica style mark-up for Braille mathematics since I rewrote a protocol back in 2003.  That or TI-80 series text, since both of these are single line methods of writing complex mathematics that any math teacher worth their salt would know.  As we have been creating and refining a braille solution, the field of math and computer science developed one to solve their own problem that we could easily borrow.

Food for thought, but I'm not looking to get into any debate about Nemeth.

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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