[Blindmath] Availability of college level math text books inBraille, sufficient to recommend it as something to check?

Fri Jul 15 17:26:47 UTC 2011

Sina,

I feel very strongly about this topic. People (both blind and sighted) have 
suggested countless times that I should get my math/science books from 
RFB&D. I have always read Braille and seen symbols in a very visual way, and 
I could not comprehend all math through audio alone. Surely I am not the 
only one. If I cannot obtain a math book in Braille, someone will have to 
transcribe it through the use of the programming-like syntax I might have 
mentioned before. RFB&D for math, to me, is next to useless.

Amanda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sina Bahram" <sbahram at nc.rr.com>
To: "'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'" 
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Availability of college level math text books 
inBraille, sufficient to recommend it as something to check?

> I'm glad to hear they were helpful to Ken. I found them to be one of the 
> most frustrating and absolutely irritating mediums of
> transferring information ever devised when it comes to discussing 
> mathematics.
>
> Matrices were often read with no respect to row/column, figures were 
> described with respect to color, as if that matters when the
> question simply want you to find the minimum of a graph, certain Greek 
> symbols were mispronounced which sounds minor except when you
> realize that there is a huge difference between how people in class/papers 
> say it, and how your reader does, etc. etc.
>
> I'll take Braille, only in math/science, over audio any day of the week.
>
> For everything else, I'm perfectly happy to listen to my screen reader at 
> speeds tripling all my peers, but for mathematics, I'm
> equally happy to consume the information at one third of my peers, if it 
> at least means getting it mostly correct. Although sadly,
> braille books are also littered with mistakes.
>
> Take care,
> Sina
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
> On Behalf Of Ken Perry
> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:00 AM
> To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Availability of college level math text books 
> inBraille, sufficient to recommend it as something to check?
>
> I used rfbd for all my college math books.  The calculus one at the time
> was one edition behind the one we were using in school.  The cool thing
> about the reader of  my calculus book was he was obviously some math 
> wizard
> because he corrected a few of the examples and one of the graphs.
> Unfortunetly not all readers are this great at RFBD but you can find a lot
> of math books recorded.
>
> Ken
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
> On
> Behalf Of Lisa Bongiorno
> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 7:36 AM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Availability of college level math text books
> inBraille, sufficient to recommend it as something to check?
>
> I deal with students from age 3 months to 18 (or 21 depending the age
> they graduate from High School).  I am assuming it's more difficult for
> college students to find and retrieve college books.   Does Bookshare,
> NIMAC, and Learning Ally offer college books?  What about ShareBraille
> at NFB?  I have posted some of my academic Braille books - especially
> math and science on ShareBraille.  I don't have the space to store some
> of the books I retrieve, and I hate to throw them out. So I post them in
> hopes that someone else could use them.
> Lisa
>
> --Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 5:21 PM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Availability of college level math text books
> inBraille, sufficient to recommend it as something to check?
>
> Birkir,
>
> I would suggest APH because I believe their "Louis" database tracks
> textbooks that are being transcribed around the country.  There are
> still agencies who
> have volunteers transcribing textbooks in braille.  For example, the
> Communication Center in Minnesota State Services for the Blind still
> doesit, at least they
> do when our state government isn't shut down because of a budget fight.
> I could be wrong but I don't think National Braille Press does
> specialized
> textbooks.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:48:59 +0000, Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:
>
>>Hi all
>
>>The Youth Slam lecture construction has certainly drawn my attention
>>to various issues I had not thought off previously (a god thing, I
>>suppose).
>>One such is whether to even suggest inquiring through APH, National
>>Braille Press or others for hardcopy versions of math text books in
>>Braille.
>>For one thing I have a calculus braille book 800 pges print, in 3
>>boxes and need our storage space to keep boxes I amnot using, so this
>>is very impractical.
>>For another, I simply do not know if there s sufficient quantity
>>available of books to suggest students try this.
>>Either way I am listing it as a last resort, behind elecronic files
>>from Publishers, InftyReader scanning of hard or electronic files,
>>using readers and checking with RFB&D (Learning Ally) and Bookshare.
>
>>If anyone has any comments on this, I'd be happy to see 'em.
>>Thanks
>>-Birkir
>>p.s. great discussion threat on how to perform transformations and
>>calculations, I will incorporate all suggestions into the eventual
>>presentation.
>
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>
>
>
>
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