[Blindmath] Translating documents with MathML into Nemeth (CORRECTION)

[Susan Jolly]

Neil,

Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

I'm still not positive I understand what MathPlayer 3 will be doing. My 
specific question is whether MathPlayer 3 will convert just the math islands 
(math expressions in MathML) or the entire document.  If the former, then I 
understand why the screenreader needs the capability to accept mixed 
content, i.e. print text it needs to translateto braille plus braille math 
(or braille anything really) that has already been translated and needs to 
be passed through unchanged.

However, if MathPlayer is only translating the math islands I have a 
concern. Nemeth is actually a complete braille system with its own rules for 
formatting and for translating non-math text as well as math.  The rules for 
translating non-math text are similar but not identical to those for 
standard contracted English braille (EBAE).  The reasons for these 
differences in the translation of text, many of which differences depend on 
context, are necessary in order to avoid ambiguity.

Also, Nemeth treats embedded and displayed math somewhat differently, just 
as MathML and LaTeX do.

BTW, I've discovered a potential source of a variety of tests of Nemeth 
translation capability.

The BANA June 2001 UEBC Sampler 2 can be downloaded from this page.
http://www.iceb.org/ubcbhdr.html

The ubcb2brf.zip file contains the braille math translations.  You'll have 
to do a bit of sorting as the braille on the lefthand pages is Nemeth while 
that on the righthand pages is an older version of UEBC.

The ubcb2wpd.zip file contains WordPerfect files.  I discovered that if I 
changed the file extension to .doc and opened the file in Word 2007 (under 
Vista) that the print source appears in text boxes.  I imagine that it 
wouldn't take too much effort for a sighted person who is facile with 
MathPlayer to convert at least some representative examples to electronic 
print math.

Susan