[Blindmath] Question about doing math in notepad

Wed Aug 24 13:08:59 UTC 2011

John,

This turned out to be both interesting and frustrating.

On the interesting side, the Mathtype add-in allowed me to convert my 
instructor's Microsoft Equation Editor equations to Latex within 
Word.  At that point, the previously incomplete and nonsensical 
equations were spoken as understandable Latex by JAWS.

Now for the frustrating part.  Mathtype is riddled with installation 
and reliability issues, at least for me running Windows 7 32-bit and 
Microsoft Word 2010.

  For example, I got errors from Mathtype installation re: inability 
to remove and install fonts.  When launched in Word, I got additional 
errors regarding inability to install a toolbar in c:\programdata\...

Other times, it would crash Word all-together requiring a hard reboot.

I had to disable User Account Control to overcome these problems and 
was then able to convert my instructor's equations to Latex.

However, the system then suffered from various reliability issues, 
such as Skype and Internet Explorer constantly crashing and 
restarting for no good reason.

After returning to a previously good System Restore Point before the 
Mathtype installation, these odd problems went away.

It's not definitive proof that Mathtype is to blame.  However, I 
think their dev team is a little behind the curve, not supporting IE9 
with Mathreader and I suspect their installation program needs to be 
upgraded to work with Windows 7's User Account Control and 
non-privileged security defaults.

Even with all these shortcomings, the ability to convert previously 
inaccessible Microsoft Equation Editor equations to Latex is so 
compelling that I think I'll rebuild a Windows XP box with an older 
version of Word and IE7.  I believe such an environment will work 
better with Mathtype and probably Mathreader as well.

The fight goes on to learn math again...

Ben

At 06:23 PM 8/21/2011, you wrote:
>Daria, there is an article on www.access2science about writing math in MS
>Word with MathType.  You need to learn a minimum of Latex to read/write
>equations in MSWord+MathType, and you seem like a pretty sharp guy.  So I
>guess you should be able to learn how to do this in a few hours of work.  At
>this point you would have a good tool for reading and writing math - in fact
>the most popular single way of writing scientific papers on earth.
>
>I do agree that you need to learn how to write in pure Latex, but you won't
>be able to do that in a few hours.  However using various templates that
>have appeared already on this list, you should be able to write minimal
>Latex documents in a short while too.  But compiling and debugging is a
>longer process.  It woulod be great if you can find somebody to provide some
>local tutoring, but if necessary you can do it on your own.  It has been
>done before.
>
>John Gardner
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Dasha Radford
>Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2011 2:56 PM
>To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
>Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Question about doing math in notepad
>
>Hi,
>Just a small problem that needs to be taken in to considderation...
>Bit of info number one: I go to a private school which does not have a TVI
>of any type.
>Bit of info number two: Braille displays aren't cheap. The only thingI have
>is an 18 cell RefreshaBraille18 from Aph.
>Last bit of info: I start school tomorrow and I'm using a computer for
>everything else. While I have a braille writer it's hard to find people
>willing to read math problems and such.
>I don't mean to be rude but this is what all of the college students in my
>Ncabs group seem to be learning or using competently as the case maybe. If I
>
>let this wait and only learn it a few months before college when nerves are
>strung as tight as whip-cord and Dsb is giving me grief because I need more
>technology than most because I am partially deaf with a fairly good chance
>of being profoundly deaf by 35 well... I don't think not learning would be a
>
>good idea right now.
>Thank you and I'm sorry if I come across a bit more strongly than perhaps I
>intend for in truth it is not my intention at all. I just want people to
>understand that I am not working on a mainstream public school system
>neither am I making my stand on a field that is level by comparison with
>what you can think of as just plain vanilla blind although there aren't many
>
>of those around.
>Again I'm sorry if I come over a bit harsh but this is something everyone,
>not just blind people but anyone else with a disability needs to understand.
>
>We don't all play the same game, we don't do the same things with our lives,
>
>and we most certainly don't get the option of saying that there is one way
>and only one way to do a thing.
>Daria
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Susan Jolly" <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
>To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2011 4:44 PM
>Subject: [Blindmath] Question about doing math in notepad
>
>
> > Hi Dasha,
> >
> > If you are in high school you shouldn't need to know anything except
> > Nemeth. Your TVI should be interlining your work so you can focus on
> > understanding math.
> >
> > Alternatively, I would suggest that you learn to use Nemetex, which was
> > developed by a blind high school student now attending college.  This
> > program automatically converts Nemeth algebra and other Nemeth math that
> > you enter using a braille display to LaTeX so a sighted person can read
> > it.
> >
> > http://www.accessisoft.com/
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > Susan Jolly
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>om
>
>
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