[Blindmath] Question about doing math in notepad

Wed Aug 24 16:43:11 UTC 2011

I want to echo what Birkir said:  hundreds of thousands of people use
MathType without a problem (although only a very few use it with a screen
reader).  If you are having problems, please contact support at dessci.com.  We
take pride in our responsive support to MathType users.  I hope that they
will be able to help you resolve whatever problem you are having.

Neil Soiffer
Senior Scientist
Design Science, Inc.
www.dessci.com
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor ~

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 6:48 AM, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
birkir.gunnarsson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ben
>
> This is an odd problem you're having. I've run MathType with no
> problems (I installed it as an admin in Windows 7 32 bit).
> You may want to contact Design Science directly, and see if they can
> assist with some of the installation issues, at lesat those that do
> not seem to be screen reader related.
> What you are experiencing is definitely not what I had to deal with.
> I had to enable the MathType macros to work in Word manually through
> Word's ActiveX options, but that was the only snag I hit along the
> way.
> I know playing with these things is mightily frustrating, but I think
> you should be able to get a better result and the problems you are
> describing should not be the default expectation, rather something
> seems to be wrong and it might be worth a second look/try to see if a
> simple fix exists.
> -B
>
> On 8/24/11, Ben Humphreys <brh at opticinspiration.org> wrote:
> > 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
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Blindmath mailing list
> >> > Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> >> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> >> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
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> >> >
> >>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/dasha95%40nc.rr.c
> >>om
> >>
> >>
> >>_______________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >
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