[Blindmath] Blindmath Digest, Vol 64, Issue 20
Gina Marie Ceylan
ginacofc at hotmail.com
Sat Nov 19 22:53:41 UTC 2011
Ben, I just wanted to say thanks... this is really helpful. I have struggled with many of these same problems (on the Mac side) and think I will search for some similar solutions. Also, go for the physics.
All- I have been using a combination of a tactile sketchpad (sensational blackboard) and audio-labelling (penfirend) to work with simple diagrams and graphs. You can use a normal pen and paper with the sketchpad to make a tactile drawing, and label, re-label, and move the audio stickers as needed. I'm using it in geochemistry, but I think it would be useful for math courses as well.
-Gina
On Nov 19, 2011, at 12:00 PM, blindmath-request at nfbnet.org wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Working math homework and exams (Ben Humphreys)
> 2. Re: Working math homework and exams (Louis Maher)
> 3. Re: Working math homework and exams (Ben Humphreys)
> 4. Re: Working math homework and exams (John Gardner)
> 5. Re: Working math homework and exams (Tami Kinney)
> 6. Re: Working math homework and exams (Amanda Lacy)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:59:37 -0500
> From: Ben Humphreys <brh at opticinspiration.org>
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Doris Pichardo <pichardo.doris at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <4ec7c464.e426340a.230e.ffffd962 at mx.google.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>
> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of
> a text editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the
> discussion focused on how to represent math constructs like
> exponents, division, special symbols etc.
>
> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first
> math class as a totally blind student.
>
> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I
> would be much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times
> longer to do than other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable
> for visualizing graphs but a lot of extra prep work necessary to get
> math material and graphss in a form suitable for embossing or reading
> and doing homework.
>
> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she
> creates material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the
> Microsoft Word file from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's
> convert to Latex feature, then heavily process with a Perl script to
> remove all the extraneous junk and put it in a straightforward format
> that I can read in Notepad. Before I wrote the Perl script, I
> required a human to remove all the extraneous Latex and the human
> found it faster to type from scratch than to fixup the Latex.
>
> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out
> of other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can
> read them in a text editor.
>
> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and
> places the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the
> students. The format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my
> homework with the correct solutions.
>
> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind
> (Learning Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but
> the readers are aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record
> these textbooks, it's an exceedingly hard thing to render a math
> textbook in audio format. I get stressed out just listening to those
> poor people trying to describe a crazy equation or graph in words.
>
> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be
> provided back in secondary school.
>
>
> Back to the original story...
>
> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose
> this approach for several reasons:
>
> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>
> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>
> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS
> would be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b,
> apostrophe, and ^ characters on a Braille display, you can easily see
> how a beginner would completely blow an equation like
> y'=2b^2 because 5 of the characters are all two vertical dots in
> various configurations. Recipe for disaster...
>
> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins
> brailler. This had the advantage that you could type your work in
> braille, and refer back to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>
> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how
> one makes corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>
> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>
> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text editor.
>
> So x-squared became x^2
> a/b is a simple fraction
> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>
> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be
> "squared", y' to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read cosine x.
>
> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>
> Now for the complications:
>
> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy"
> reading through them with a text editor. Example:
> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>
>
> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was
> really easy to make a mistake: Example:
>
> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
> could easily become
> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>
> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and
> if you look at that equation, there are about 9 individual
> coefficients, exponents, and signs to remember. It's enough to drive
> you mad. So you use copy and paste as you work the problem and then
> change little pieces on each iteration.
>
> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form
> of an area off to the side of the page or on the back where
> "temporary" calculations can be performed. Then the result can be
> brought back into the original problem.
>
> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from
> the original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of
> calculations to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make
> you dizzy and confused just moving through all the math with a screen
> reader in your ear.
>
> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
> programming language. Example:
>
> # Original equation
> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>
> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
> 4x^2= 400x
>
> # Divide both sides by 4
> x^2 = 100
>
> # Solve for x
> x=10
>
> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you
> get a problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you
> have to write down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then
> substitute everything back in. Example:
>
> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of
> the box is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>
> So you write down
>
> l=10
> w=5
> h=2
>
> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>
> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to
> move your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then
> bring your cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type
> the value, delete the original variable, and repeat without blowing anything.
>
> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly
> by referring to them visually.
>
> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the
> tendency to blow it goes way up.
>
> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going
> back and forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to
> be a better way.
>
> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>
> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these
> problems for me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for
> x without using that horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never
> blow an exponent or +/- sign, produce graphs suitable for a tactile
> embosser, and give me the ability to double check my answers, to say
> nothing of being a very capable talking "calculator."
>
> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other
> Java-based user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>
> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was
> much more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command
> to force the exponents into the same line as the equation instead of
> Maple printing them above the equation. And at that point, I had a
> pretty good solution.
>
> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use
> by a blind student problematic:
>
> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for
> best results.
>
> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100
> and requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>
> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance
> and many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>
> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license
> when you purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and
> your school workstation is going to be a problem.
>
> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>
> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I
> was hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source
> programs simlar to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or
> installation issues.
>
> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>
> Next steps:
>
> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text
> editor so I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable
> of placemarkers, cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>
> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice
> since Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the
> glue between Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>
> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>
> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing
> the real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by
> noticing you haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the
> hardest work in math is the problem setup and interpretation and the
> CAS can't do that for you. Still, there may be some reluctance on
> the part of instructors to allow you such a powerful calculator /
> programming language.
>
> Next semester...
>
> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
> 2. Calculus II
> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>
> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions
> useful. I'm pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>
> Ben
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:25:23 -0600
> From: "Louis Maher" <ljmaher at swbell.net>
> To: "'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: 'Doris Pichardo' <pichardo.doris at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <004a01cca6cf$75622870$60267950$@swbell.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hello Ben,
>
> Three comments.
>
> 1. A Braille display would greatly lesson the memory issue.
> 2. You could open a second file for scratch purposes. Alt-tabbing between
> two files is faster than going up and down a single file.
> 3. Nemeth code is invaluable.
>
> Braille will greatly simplify your scientific efforts.
>
>
>
> Regards
> Louis Maher
> 713-444-7838
> ljmaher at swbell.net
> http://www.nfbtx.org/localchapters/houston
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Ben Humphreys
> Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 9:00 AM
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Doris Pichardo
> Subject: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
>
> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>
> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of a text
> editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the discussion
> focused on how to represent math constructs like exponents, division,
> special symbols etc.
>
> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first math class
> as a totally blind student.
>
> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I would be
> much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times longer to do than
> other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable for visualizing graphs but
> a lot of extra prep work necessary to get math material and graphss in a
> form suitable for embossing or reading and doing homework.
>
> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she creates
> material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the Microsoft Word file
> from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's convert to Latex feature, then
> heavily process with a Perl script to remove all the extraneous junk and put
> it in a straightforward format that I can read in Notepad. Before I wrote
> the Perl script, I required a human to remove all the extraneous Latex and
> the human found it faster to type from scratch than to fixup the Latex.
>
> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out of
> other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can read them in
> a text editor.
>
> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and places
> the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the students. The
> format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my homework with the
> correct solutions.
>
> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind (Learning
> Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but the readers are
> aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record these textbooks, it's
> an exceedingly hard thing to render a math textbook in audio format. I get
> stressed out just listening to those poor people trying to describe a crazy
> equation or graph in words.
>
> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be provided
> back in secondary school.
>
>
> Back to the original story...
>
> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose this
> approach for several reasons:
>
> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>
> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>
> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS would
> be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b, apostrophe, and ^
> characters on a Braille display, you can easily see how a beginner would
> completely blow an equation like
> y'=2b^2 because 5 of the characters are all two vertical dots in
> various configurations. Recipe for disaster...
>
> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins brailler. This
> had the advantage that you could type your work in braille, and refer back
> to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>
> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how one makes
> corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>
> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>
> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text editor.
>
> So x-squared became x^2
> a/b is a simple fraction
> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>
> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be "squared", y'
> to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read cosine x.
>
> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>
> Now for the complications:
>
> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy"
> reading through them with a text editor. Example:
> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>
>
> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was
> really easy to make a mistake: Example:
>
> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
> could easily become
> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>
> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and if you
> look at that equation, there are about 9 individual coefficients, exponents,
> and signs to remember. It's enough to drive you mad. So you use copy and
> paste as you work the problem and then change little pieces on each
> iteration.
>
> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form of an
> area off to the side of the page or on the back where "temporary"
> calculations can be performed. Then the result can be brought back into the
> original problem.
>
> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from the
> original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of calculations
> to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make you dizzy and confused
> just moving through all the math with a screen reader in your ear.
>
> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
> programming language. Example:
>
> # Original equation
> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>
> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
> 4x^2= 400x
>
> # Divide both sides by 4
> x^2 = 100
>
> # Solve for x
> x=10
>
> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you get a
> problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you have to write
> down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then substitute
> everything back in. Example:
>
> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of the box
> is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>
> So you write down
>
> l=10
> w=5
> h=2
>
> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>
> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to move
> your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then bring your
> cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type the value, delete
> the original variable, and repeat without blowing anything.
>
> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly by
> referring to them visually.
>
> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the tendency
> to blow it goes way up.
>
> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going back and
> forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to be a better way.
>
> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>
> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these problems for
> me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for x without using that
> horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never blow an exponent or +/- sign,
> produce graphs suitable for a tactile embosser, and give me the ability to
> double check my answers, to say nothing of being a very capable talking
> "calculator."
>
> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other Java-based
> user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>
> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was much
> more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command to force the
> exponents into the same line as the equation instead of Maple printing them
> above the equation. And at that point, I had a pretty good solution.
>
> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use by a
> blind student problematic:
>
> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for best
> results.
>
> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100 and
> requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>
> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance and
> many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>
> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license when you
> purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and your school
> workstation is going to be a problem.
>
> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>
> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I was
> hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source programs simlar
> to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or installation issues.
>
> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>
> Next steps:
>
> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text editor so
> I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable of placemarkers,
> cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>
> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice since
> Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the glue between
> Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>
> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>
> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing the
> real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by noticing you
> haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the hardest work in math
> is the problem setup and interpretation and the CAS can't do that for you.
> Still, there may be some reluctance on the part of instructors to allow you
> such a powerful calculator / programming language.
>
> Next semester...
>
> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
> 2. Calculus II
> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>
> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions useful. I'm
> pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>
> Ben
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/ljmaher%40swbell.net
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:37:15 -0500
> From: Ben Humphreys <brh at opticinspiration.org>
> To: ljmaher at swbell.net, Blind Math list for those interested in
> mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <4ec7db50.0361340a.43ee.ffffe2d6 at mx.google.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> Louis,
>
> Thanks for the recommendations but I have several questions:
>
> 1. When using a Braille display,you're going to have to necessarily
> separate the braille cursor line from the active cursor line you're
> working on so as to refer to previous work while typing new
> work. The whiz wheels on the FS displays seem good for this but I've
> found the braille cursor has a nasty habit of jumping back to the
> active cursor line without being asked to.
>
> 2. Having lost my eyesight at 40, learning Braille sufficient to
> read efficiently, let alone accurately enough to do math is no easy
> endeavor. While I really appreciate that I enjoyed eyesight for the
> first half of my life, I envey students who learned braille as a kid
> when their brains were spongy and getting proficient was relatively effortless.
>
> 3. How does one differentiate 2 from b from ' from ^ accurately? On
> my display, at least, they are all 2 vertical dots. in various permutations.
>
> 4. As for Nemeth, I'm not sure what the benefit is here, other than
> yet another step to get from Mathtype to a format capable of
> reading. I could see if the original content was in Nemeth but how
> much original university-level math is in Nemeth format?
>
> Aren't you going to need a human to perform that extra conversion
> step for you? Is there a Mathtype to Nemeth converter?
>
> One of these days, if I ever experience a Mathplayer that actually
> works, I may develop a whole new appreciation for Math
> ml. Unfortunately, the issues necessary to get this working for the
> uninitiated such as myself have been too numerous to overcome.
>
> Great discusion though!
>
> Thanks
>
> Ben
>
> At 10:25 AM 11/19/2011, you wrote:
>> Hello Ben,
>>
>> Three comments.
>>
>> 1. A Braille display would greatly lesson the memory issue.
>> 2. You could open a second file for scratch purposes. Alt-tabbing between
>> two files is faster than going up and down a single file.
>> 3. Nemeth code is invaluable.
>>
>> Braille will greatly simplify your scientific efforts.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Louis Maher
>> 713-444-7838
>> ljmaher at swbell.net
>> http://www.nfbtx.org/localchapters/houston
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Ben Humphreys
>> Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 9:00 AM
>> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Doris Pichardo
>> Subject: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
>>
>> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>>
>> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of a text
>> editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the discussion
>> focused on how to represent math constructs like exponents, division,
>> special symbols etc.
>>
>> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first math class
>> as a totally blind student.
>>
>> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I would be
>> much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times longer to do than
>> other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable for visualizing graphs but
>> a lot of extra prep work necessary to get math material and graphss in a
>> form suitable for embossing or reading and doing homework.
>>
>> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she creates
>> material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the Microsoft Word file
>> from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's convert to Latex feature, then
>> heavily process with a Perl script to remove all the extraneous junk and put
>> it in a straightforward format that I can read in Notepad. Before I wrote
>> the Perl script, I required a human to remove all the extraneous Latex and
>> the human found it faster to type from scratch than to fixup the Latex.
>>
>> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out of
>> other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can read them in
>> a text editor.
>>
>> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and places
>> the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the students. The
>> format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my homework with the
>> correct solutions.
>>
>> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind (Learning
>> Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but the readers are
>> aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record these textbooks, it's
>> an exceedingly hard thing to render a math textbook in audio format. I get
>> stressed out just listening to those poor people trying to describe a crazy
>> equation or graph in words.
>>
>> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
>> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be provided
>> back in secondary school.
>>
>>
>> Back to the original story...
>>
>> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose this
>> approach for several reasons:
>>
>> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>>
>> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>>
>> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS would
>> be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b, apostrophe, and ^
>> characters on a Braille display, you can easily see how a beginner would
>> completely blow an equation like
>> y'=2b^2 because 5 of the characters are all two vertical dots in
>> various configurations. Recipe for disaster...
>>
>> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins brailler. This
>> had the advantage that you could type your work in braille, and refer back
>> to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>>
>> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
>> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how one makes
>> corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>>
>> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>>
>> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
>> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text editor.
>>
>> So x-squared became x^2
>> a/b is a simple fraction
>> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
>> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>>
>> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be "squared", y'
>> to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read cosine x.
>>
>> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>>
>> Now for the complications:
>>
>> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy"
>> reading through them with a text editor. Example:
>> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>>
>>
>> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was
>> really easy to make a mistake: Example:
>>
>> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
>> could easily become
>> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>>
>> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and if you
>> look at that equation, there are about 9 individual coefficients, exponents,
>> and signs to remember. It's enough to drive you mad. So you use copy and
>> paste as you work the problem and then change little pieces on each
>> iteration.
>>
>> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form of an
>> area off to the side of the page or on the back where "temporary"
>> calculations can be performed. Then the result can be brought back into the
>> original problem.
>>
>> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from the
>> original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of calculations
>> to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make you dizzy and confused
>> just moving through all the math with a screen reader in your ear.
>>
>> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
>> programming language. Example:
>>
>> # Original equation
>> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>>
>> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
>> 4x^2= 400x
>>
>> # Divide both sides by 4
>> x^2 = 100
>>
>> # Solve for x
>> x=10
>>
>> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you get a
>> problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you have to write
>> down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then substitute
>> everything back in. Example:
>>
>> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of the box
>> is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>>
>> So you write down
>>
>> l=10
>> w=5
>> h=2
>>
>> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>>
>> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to move
>> your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then bring your
>> cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type the value, delete
>> the original variable, and repeat without blowing anything.
>>
>> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
>> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly by
>> referring to them visually.
>>
>> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the tendency
>> to blow it goes way up.
>>
>> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going back and
>> forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to be a better way.
>>
>> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>>
>> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these problems for
>> me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for x without using that
>> horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never blow an exponent or +/- sign,
>> produce graphs suitable for a tactile embosser, and give me the ability to
>> double check my answers, to say nothing of being a very capable talking
>> "calculator."
>>
>> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other Java-based
>> user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>>
>> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was much
>> more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command to force the
>> exponents into the same line as the equation instead of Maple printing them
>> above the equation. And at that point, I had a pretty good solution.
>>
>> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use by a
>> blind student problematic:
>>
>> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
>> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for best
>> results.
>>
>> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100 and
>> requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>>
>> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance and
>> many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>>
>> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license when you
>> purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and your school
>> workstation is going to be a problem.
>>
>> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>>
>> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I was
>> hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source programs simlar
>> to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or installation issues.
>>
>> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>>
>> Next steps:
>>
>> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text editor so
>> I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable of placemarkers,
>> cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>>
>> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice since
>> Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the glue between
>> Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>>
>> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>>
>> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
>> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing the
>> real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by noticing you
>> haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the hardest work in math
>> is the problem setup and interpretation and the CAS can't do that for you.
>> Still, there may be some reluctance on the part of instructors to allow you
>> such a powerful calculator / programming language.
>>
>> Next semester...
>>
>> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
>> 2. Calculus II
>> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>>
>> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions useful. I'm
>> pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>>
>> Ben
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/ljmaher%40swbell.net
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>> for Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/brh%40opticinspiration.org
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:53:52 -0800
> From: "John Gardner" <john.gardner at orst.edu>
> To: "'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <004701cca6db$d2ec9370$78c5ba50$@gardner at orst.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi Ben, sounds like you are taking care of things pretty well. Good work.
> You are a survivor. I have a suggestion. You can greatly reduce the prep
> time for graph printout by two possible routes. In Maxima, maybe you can
> ask it to use certain fonts on graphs? If so, use Tiger or Braille29, and
> you'll get DotsPlus or braille respectively. For things where you can't
> change fonts, import using IVEO Creator and read labels in IVEO. At
> present, it does not interpret equations but does a great job on text. So x
> squared will have an x and a raised 2. It probably won't understand Greek
> letters though, but this will get you a long way quickly.
>
> Congratulations on finding what sounds like a pretty good path!
>
> John G
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Ben Humphreys
> Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 7:00 AM
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Doris Pichardo
> Subject: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
>
> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>
> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of
> a text editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the
> discussion focused on how to represent math constructs like
> exponents, division, special symbols etc.
>
> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first
> math class as a totally blind student.
>
> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I
> would be much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times
> longer to do than other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable
> for visualizing graphs but a lot of extra prep work necessary to get
> math material and graphss in a form suitable for embossing or reading
> and doing homework.
>
> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she
> creates material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the
> Microsoft Word file from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's
> convert to Latex feature, then heavily process with a Perl script to
> remove all the extraneous junk and put it in a straightforward format
> that I can read in Notepad. Before I wrote the Perl script, I
> required a human to remove all the extraneous Latex and the human
> found it faster to type from scratch than to fixup the Latex.
>
> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out
> of other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can
> read them in a text editor.
>
> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and
> places the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the
> students. The format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my
> homework with the correct solutions.
>
> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind
> (Learning Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but
> the readers are aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record
> these textbooks, it's an exceedingly hard thing to render a math
> textbook in audio format. I get stressed out just listening to those
> poor people trying to describe a crazy equation or graph in words.
>
> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be
> provided back in secondary school.
>
>
> Back to the original story...
>
> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose
> this approach for several reasons:
>
> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>
> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>
> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS
> would be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b,
> apostrophe, and ^ characters on a Braille display, you can easily see
> how a beginner would completely blow an equation like
> y'=2b^2 because 5 of the characters are all two vertical dots in
> various configurations. Recipe for disaster...
>
> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins
> brailler. This had the advantage that you could type your work in
> braille, and refer back to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>
> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how
> one makes corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>
> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>
> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text editor.
>
> So x-squared became x^2
> a/b is a simple fraction
> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>
> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be
> "squared", y' to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read cosine
> x.
>
> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>
> Now for the complications:
>
> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy"
> reading through them with a text editor. Example:
> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>
>
> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was
> really easy to make a mistake: Example:
>
> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
> could easily become
> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>
> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and
> if you look at that equation, there are about 9 individual
> coefficients, exponents, and signs to remember. It's enough to drive
> you mad. So you use copy and paste as you work the problem and then
> change little pieces on each iteration.
>
> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form
> of an area off to the side of the page or on the back where
> "temporary" calculations can be performed. Then the result can be
> brought back into the original problem.
>
> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from
> the original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of
> calculations to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make
> you dizzy and confused just moving through all the math with a screen
> reader in your ear.
>
> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
> programming language. Example:
>
> # Original equation
> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>
> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
> 4x^2= 400x
>
> # Divide both sides by 4
> x^2 = 100
>
> # Solve for x
> x=10
>
> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you
> get a problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you
> have to write down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then
> substitute everything back in. Example:
>
> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of
> the box is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>
> So you write down
>
> l=10
> w=5
> h=2
>
> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>
> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to
> move your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then
> bring your cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type
> the value, delete the original variable, and repeat without blowing
> anything.
>
> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly
> by referring to them visually.
>
> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the
> tendency to blow it goes way up.
>
> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going
> back and forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to
> be a better way.
>
> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>
> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these
> problems for me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for
> x without using that horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never
> blow an exponent or +/- sign, produce graphs suitable for a tactile
> embosser, and give me the ability to double check my answers, to say
> nothing of being a very capable talking "calculator."
>
> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other
> Java-based user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>
> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was
> much more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command
> to force the exponents into the same line as the equation instead of
> Maple printing them above the equation. And at that point, I had a
> pretty good solution.
>
> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use
> by a blind student problematic:
>
> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for
> best results.
>
> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100
> and requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>
> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance
> and many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>
> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license
> when you purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and
> your school workstation is going to be a problem.
>
> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>
> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I
> was hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source
> programs simlar to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or
> installation issues.
>
> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>
> Next steps:
>
> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text
> editor so I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable
> of placemarkers, cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>
> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice
> since Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the
> glue between Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>
> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>
> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing
> the real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by
> noticing you haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the
> hardest work in math is the problem setup and interpretation and the
> CAS can't do that for you. Still, there may be some reluctance on
> the part of instructors to allow you such a powerful calculator /
> programming language.
>
> Next semester...
>
> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
> 2. Calculus II
> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>
> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions
> useful. I'm pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>
> Ben
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Blindmath:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/john.gardner%40orst.e
> du
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:00:52 -0800
> From: Tami Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <4EC7E0C4.60102 at comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Ben,
>
> Thank you for this. In 2005/2006, I did look into taking the career
> advancement option through my VR agency to finish up my math degree...
> Since in the 7.5 years previously that I had been losing the sight to
> read print they had not gotten around to performing an on site work
> place assessment... When they failed to do their steps to go forward
> with the school plan or even answer questions, it occurred to me that I
> had best find better things to do. I have since learned that they do
> that to all of their consumers, and those who start school while waiting
> for the tools and texts they need end up pretty broken. Sigh.
>
> Anyway, I would have been retaking calculus, which was fine because I
> needed to learn to conceptualize math non visually. Trying to figure out
> how to do that and still have time to eat and sleep made me hungry and
> tired. /smile/
>
> For now, my plan is to rebuild the other foundations of my life and get
> back to work somehow in information management systems, then study math
> on my own until I get a tool kit built up and can just start taking math
> classes again without having to put up with a lot of hassle with VR or
> disability services...
>
> So your explanations of the tool kit you use and your solutions to the
> problems of reading and homework production give me a lot of insight!
>
> Best wishes for winter break and your next term.
>
> Tami
>
> On 11/19/2011 06:59 AM, Ben Humphreys wrote:
>> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>>
>> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of a
>> text editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the
>> discussion focused on how to represent math constructs like exponents,
>> division, special symbols etc.
>>
>> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first math
>> class as a totally blind student.
>>
>> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I would
>> be much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times longer to do
>> than other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable for visualizing
>> graphs but a lot of extra prep work necessary to get math material and
>> graphss in a form suitable for embossing or reading and doing homework.
>>
>> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she creates
>> material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the Microsoft Word
>> file from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's convert to Latex
>> feature, then heavily process with a Perl script to remove all the
>> extraneous junk and put it in a straightforward format that I can read
>> in Notepad. Before I wrote the Perl script, I required a human to remove
>> all the extraneous Latex and the human found it faster to type from
>> scratch than to fixup the Latex.
>>
>> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out of
>> other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can read them
>> in a text editor.
>>
>> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and
>> places the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the
>> students. The format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my
>> homework with the correct solutions.
>>
>> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind
>> (Learning Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but
>> the readers are aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record
>> these textbooks, it's an exceedingly hard thing to render a math
>> textbook in audio format. I get stressed out just listening to those
>> poor people trying to describe a crazy equation or graph in words.
>>
>> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
>> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be
>> provided back in secondary school.
>>
>>
>> Back to the original story...
>>
>> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose this
>> approach for several reasons:
>>
>> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>>
>> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>>
>> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS
>> would be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b,
>> apostrophe, and ^ characters on a Braille display, you can easily see
>> how a beginner would completely blow an equation like y'=2b^2 because 5
>> of the characters are all two vertical dots in various configurations.
>> Recipe for disaster...
>>
>> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins brailler.
>> This had the advantage that you could type your work in braille, and
>> refer back to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>>
>> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
>> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how one
>> makes corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>>
>> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>>
>> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
>> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text
>> editor.
>>
>> So x-squared became x^2
>> a/b is a simple fraction
>> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
>> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>>
>> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be
>> "squared", y' to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read
>> cosine x.
>>
>> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>>
>> Now for the complications:
>>
>> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy" reading
>> through them with a text editor. Example:
>> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>>
>>
>> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was
>> really easy to make a mistake: Example:
>>
>> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
>> could easily become
>> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>>
>> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and if
>> you look at that equation, there are about 9 individual coefficients,
>> exponents, and signs to remember. It's enough to drive you mad. So you
>> use copy and paste as you work the problem and then change little pieces
>> on each iteration.
>>
>> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form of
>> an area off to the side of the page or on the back where "temporary"
>> calculations can be performed. Then the result can be brought back into
>> the original problem.
>>
>> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from the
>> original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of
>> calculations to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make you
>> dizzy and confused just moving through all the math with a screen reader
>> in your ear.
>>
>> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
>> programming language. Example:
>>
>> # Original equation
>> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>>
>> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
>> 4x^2= 400x
>>
>> # Divide both sides by 4
>> x^2 = 100
>>
>> # Solve for x
>> x=10
>>
>> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you get a
>> problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you have to
>> write down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then substitute
>> everything back in. Example:
>>
>> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of the
>> box is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>>
>> So you write down
>>
>> l=10
>> w=5
>> h=2
>>
>> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>>
>> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to move
>> your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then bring your
>> cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type the value,
>> delete the original variable, and repeat without blowing anything.
>>
>> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
>> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly by
>> referring to them visually.
>>
>> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the
>> tendency to blow it goes way up.
>>
>> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going back
>> and forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to be a
>> better way.
>>
>> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>>
>> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these problems
>> for me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for x without
>> using that horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never blow an
>> exponent or +/- sign, produce graphs suitable for a tactile embosser,
>> and give me the ability to double check my answers, to say nothing of
>> being a very capable talking "calculator."
>>
>> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other Java-based
>> user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>>
>> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was much
>> more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command to force
>> the exponents into the same line as the equation instead of Maple
>> printing them above the equation. And at that point, I had a pretty good
>> solution.
>>
>> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use by
>> a blind student problematic:
>>
>> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
>> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for
>> best results.
>>
>> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100 and
>> requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>>
>> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance and
>> many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>>
>> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license when
>> you purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and your
>> school workstation is going to be a problem.
>>
>> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>>
>> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I
>> was hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source programs
>> simlar to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or installation issues.
>>
>> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>>
>> Next steps:
>>
>> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text
>> editor so I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable of
>> placemarkers, cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>>
>> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice since
>> Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the glue
>> between Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>>
>> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>>
>> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
>> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing
>> the real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by noticing
>> you haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the hardest work in
>> math is the problem setup and interpretation and the CAS can't do that
>> for you. Still, there may be some reluctance on the part of instructors
>> to allow you such a powerful calculator / programming language.
>>
>> Next semester...
>>
>> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
>> 2. Calculus II
>> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>>
>> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions useful.
>> I'm pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>>
>> Ben
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast.net
>>
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:16:47 -0600
> From: "Amanda Lacy" <lacy925 at gmail.com>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
> Message-ID: <DFCF9CF157B5442291CD234447C38DEE at DD4DJCK1>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=response
>
> Indeed I will appreciate this.
>
> Amanda
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ben Humphreys" <brh at opticinspiration.org>
> To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Doris Pichardo" <pichardo.doris at gmail.com>
> Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:59 AM
> Subject: [Blindmath] Working math homework and exams
>
>
>> Hi everyone on the Blind Math mailing list
>>
>> Earlier in this term, we had a brief discussion on how to make use of a
>> text editor to take notes and do math homework. At the time, the
>> discussion focused on how to represent math constructs like exponents,
>> division, special symbols etc.
>>
>> I am now towards the end of my first calculus class, and my first math
>> class as a totally blind student.
>>
>> Brief results: So far, have a B- in the class whereas I believe I would be
>> much closer to an A, homework and exams take 2-3 times longer to do than
>> other students. Use of Tiger embosser invaluable for visualizing graphs
>> but a lot of extra prep work necessary to get math material and graphss in
>> a form suitable for embossing or reading and doing homework.
>>
>> My instructor uses several formats for material. Most often, she creates
>> material in Microsoft Word using Mathtype. I obtain the Microsoft Word
>> file from her in electronic format, use Mathtype's convert to Latex
>> feature, then heavily process with a Perl script to remove all the
>> extraneous junk and put it in a straightforward format that I can read in
>> Notepad. Before I wrote the Perl script, I required a human to remove all
>> the extraneous Latex and the human found it faster to type from scratch
>> than to fixup the Latex.
>>
>> Other times, my instructor scans in problems found on the web or out of
>> other textbooks. These have to be typed in by a human so I can read them
>> in a text editor.
>>
>> Finally, she solves class material and homework in handwriting and places
>> the scanned images of that online for the benefit of all the students.
>> The format is scanned PDF. So I need a tutor to compare my homework with
>> the correct solutions.
>>
>> Our "official" textbook is available from Recording for the Blind
>> (Learning Ally) but it's not only cryptic as most math texts are, but the
>> readers are aweful. While I appreciate the volunteers who record these
>> textbooks, it's an exceedingly hard thing to render a math textbook in
>> audio format. I get stressed out just listening to those poor people
>> trying to describe a crazy equation or graph in words.
>>
>> So that's the logistics of being a first-time blind calc student in a
>> university setting with no "inline" instruction such as might be provided
>> back in secondary school.
>>
>>
>> Back to the original story...
>>
>> I planned to do my hhomework and exams in a text editor. I choose this
>> approach for several reasons:
>>
>> 1. I'm a good typist and excellent JAWS screen reader user
>>
>> 2. Handwriting is out of the question
>>
>> 3. I am just learning Braille and so I figured a text editor + JAWS would
>> be much more reliable. If you've ever compared the 2, b, apostrophe, and
>> ^ characters on a Braille display, you can easily see how a beginner would
>> completely blow an equation like y'=2b^2 because 5 of the characters are
>> all two vertical dots in various configurations. Recipe for disaster...
>>
>> 4. I've heard in the past that folks used to use a Perkins brailler.
>> This had the advantage that you could type your work in braille, and refer
>> back to previous work on the page relatively easily.
>>
>> Unfortunately, this sounded like a heavy, noisy, and impractical solution
>> for me since I don't know braille that well. And I was unsure how one
>> makes corrections (erasures or cross-outs) using such a method.
>>
>> So I choose Notepad + JAWS as my solution.
>>
>> I choose early on to use my own simplified expressions in lieu of
>> complicating my life with Nemeth or for heaven's sake Latexin a text
>> editor.
>>
>> So x-squared became x^2
>> a/b is a simple fraction
>> a+1//b was a shorthand to (a+1)/b and easier to understand
>> lim x->infinity-symbol (sideways 8) became simply lim x~infinity
>>
>> Then I used JAWS dictionary to redefine things like "^2" to be "squared",
>> y' to read "y prime", ~ for "goes to", and cos x to read cosine x.
>>
>> My simple hybrid representations worked relatively well.
>>
>> Now for the complications:
>>
>> 1. When equations got long, it was really easy to get "dizzy" reading
>> through them with a text editor. Example:
>> 4x^5 - (2x^2)(3x) + 45 = 16x^(4/3)
>>
>>
>> 2. As you work an equation with more than one or two terms, it was really
>> easy to make a mistake: Example:
>>
>> 2x^3 - 3x^2 = -5
>> could easily become
>> 3x^3 + 2x^2 = 5
>>
>> Because the human brain can only remember about 7 things at once, and if
>> you look at that equation, there are about 9 individual coefficients,
>> exponents, and signs to remember. It's enough to drive you mad. So you
>> use copy and paste as you work the problem and then change little pieces
>> on each iteration.
>>
>> 3. The sighted students have the benefit of a scratchpad in the form of
>> an area off to the side of the page or on the back where "temporary"
>> calculations can be performed. Then the result can be brought back into
>> the original problem.
>>
>> I found I had to do my scratch work inline, which distracted me from the
>> original problem and forced me to scroll through long lists of
>> calculations to get to previous steps. this too was enough to make you
>> dizzy and confused just moving through all the math with a screen reader
>> in your ear.
>>
>> So I started labeling my steps with comments like you might do in a
>> programming language. Example:
>>
>> # Original equation
>> 4x^2- 400x = 0
>>
>> # add 100x to both sides and cancel
>> 4x^2= 400x
>>
>> # Divide both sides by 4
>> x^2 = 100
>>
>> # Solve for x
>> x=10
>>
>> 4. The substitution problem - and this was the big one. When you get a
>> problem with lots of variables, like in a word problem, you have to write
>> down all your variables, do some manipulation, and then substitute
>> everything back in. Example:
>>
>> A box has a base whose length is 10 and width is 5. The height of the box
>> is 2. Calculate the surface area of the box.
>>
>> So you write down
>>
>> l=10
>> w=5
>> h=2
>>
>> s = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
>>
>> Now you have to ssubstitute in the values, which means you havfe to move
>> your cursor back up, memorize one or more variables, and then bring your
>> cursor down, place on the variable to be substituted, type the value,
>> delete the original variable, and repeat without blowing anything.
>>
>> A sighted student does this completely intuitively because he or she
>> rewrites the surface area formula, substituting variables on the fly by
>> referring to them visually.
>>
>> When you Add more fariables, fractions, exponents, and signs, the tendency
>> to blow it goes way up.
>>
>> After taking a 2 hour exam that actually took me 7 hours, of going back
>> and forth dizzily within long problems, I figured there had to be a better
>> way.
>>
>> Enter the the Computer Algebra System.
>>
>> I figured a Computer Algebra System could solve many of these problems for
>> me. It could store and substitute variables, solve for x without using
>> that horribly error-prone quadradic equation, never blow an exponent or
>> +/- sign, produce graphs suitable for a tactile embosser, and give me the
>> ability to double check my answers, to say nothing of being a very capable
>> talking "calculator."
>>
>> I started off with Maple and found the workbook and the other Java-based
>> user interface marginally to completely inaccessible.
>>
>> Then I discovered the command-line version called cmaple. that was much
>> more accessible. I used the "interface(prettyprint=0)" command to force
>> the exponents into the same line as the equation instead of Maple printing
>> them above the equation. And at that point, I had a pretty good solution.
>>
>> Unfortunately, Maple suffers from several problems which make its use by a
>> blind student problematic:
>>
>> 1. The two standard user-interfaces, workbook and Java-based, , are
>> marginally to totally inaccessible. Use the command-line version for best
>> results.
>>
>> 2. The program is costly even at the student price of around $100 and
>> requires a fair bit of fussing around to procure as a student.
>>
>> 3. The installation program is a pig and requires sighted assistance and
>> many non-keyboard mouse clicks in certain places to complete.
>>
>> 4. And here's the worst part -- you are granted a single license when you
>> purchase so operating on your home desktop, your laptop, and your school
>> workstation is going to be a problem.
>>
>> Out with Maple, in with Maxima:
>>
>> Once I discovered the potential of a Computer Algebra System (CAS), I was
>> hooked. I then discovered Maxima and Axiom, two open-source programs
>> simlar to Maple but without the cost, licensing, or installation issues.
>>
>> I've been using Maxima ever since.
>>
>> Next steps:
>>
>> I envision integrating the input and output of Maxima with my text editor
>> so I can do my homework in one seamless environment, capable of
>> placemarkers, cut and paste, variable substitution, calulations, etc
>>
>> I will be switching from Notepad to Edsharp as my editor of choice since
>> Edsharp is so much more capable and extensible. Creating the glue between
>> Edsharp and Maxima will be my project for the winter break.
>>
>> A Potential Downside for CAS Use by Students:
>>
>> A CAS is so capable, it introduces not only the time-saving features
>> described above, but the ability to solve some problems without doing the
>> real math. Fortunately, most instructors would spot this by noticing you
>> haven't shown your work. In addition, I've found the hardest work in math
>> is the problem setup and interpretation and the CAS can't do that for you.
>> Still, there may be some reluctance on the part of instructors to allow
>> you such a powerful calculator / programming language.
>>
>> Next semester...
>>
>> 1. An integrated editor / CAS
>> 2. Calculus II
>> 3. And in the future, maybe even Physics :~
>>
>> I hope you all might find my experiments and hybrid solutions useful. I'm
>> pretty sure Amanda and Dr. Baldwin will for sure.
>>
>> Ben
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blindmath mailing list
>> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blindmath:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/lacy925%40gmail.com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
>
>
> End of Blindmath Digest, Vol 64, Issue 20
> *****************************************
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