[Blindmath] Typing in Nemeth Braille

Mon Sep 16 17:33:16 UTC 2013

I would add, I could not imagine trying to handle LaTeX without a 
Braille display. However I know that some do this.

My caution on suggesting just reading LaTeX source is that if the 
document was created using a WYSIWYG editor, then it can produce quite 
ugly code to ensure it gets the visual appearance (not necessarily 
meaning) which was specified. Also if the author made heavy use of 
custom macros then this can also make it quite hard to read the LaTeX.

Michael Whapples
On 16/09/2013 18:13, Paul Chapin wrote:
> I believe she started learning Latex this summer. She was understandable nervous about depending on a system she was just learning particularly since as a new college student we are throwing a lot of new stuff at her at once. I believe she's taking her notes using Nemeth which she already knows.
>
> One nice thing about this is that the instructor prepares his notes using latex so he doesn't have to do anything special to pass the notes to her.  He just keeps it away for any latex compiler and gives her the text file so what she gets is something like
>
> Use an \epsilon/\delta-proof to show that
> \lim_{x \to 6} ( \frac{1}{2}x - 4 ) = -1.
>
> When I listen to this with JAWS I find it pretty intimidating and more so with more complicated math, but I find the idea of doing most things while blind pretty intimidating so I'm not a good judge. I suspect that if you run this through a refreshable braille display it wouldn't be that bad, assuming you can keep all the parts in your mind.
>
> As a side note, we were worried about graphs for both math and economics.  We even experimented with a 3d printer. We thought we should do something more permanent and sophisticated than the wikki stix with thread and string that she had been using. But her econ prof liked the wikki stix. He told us that a lot of economics has to do with the effects of change so the ability to say something like, "raise the fixed cost and see what happens" and then have her physically raise the line was a big plus and may be better than the printed graphs which would solve this problem by putting multiple lines on the graph with labels to indicate relative time.
>
> Paul Chapin
> Academic Technology Specialist
> Amherst College
> X2144
>
> Amherst College IT staff will never ask for your password, including by email. Any email asking for any password or username is almost certainly bogus. Never click on a link in an email to a site that requires a login as the link may be bogus. Type in the address yourself. Please keep your passwords private to protect yourself and the security of our network.
>
> From: "I. C. Bray" <i.c.bray at win.net<mailto:i.c.bray at win.net>>
> Organization: NFB-GL & UofL KABS
> Reply-To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>>
> Date: Monday, September 16, 2013 11:24 AM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Typing in Nemeth Braille
>
> Paul,
>
> YES!  That is the kind of perspective I'm looking for.
>
> So, Parallelling Nemeth with LaTeX sounds perhapslike a place to begin.
>
> When did the student (She? or He?) start learning LaTeX?
> Can you give more specifics about how and when, and perhaps why it's not a
> great idea?
>
> You mentioned hang-ups... what have they been?
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Chapin" <pdchapin at amherst.edu<mailto:pdchapin at amherst.edu>>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org<mailto:blindmath at nfbnet.org>>
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 10:33 AM
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Typing in Nemeth Braille
>
>
> : When we were looking at how to support a blind student who wanted to major
> in Math, we went through most of the arguments that have been made here.
> However, her first math prof was very strong in urging a latex only
> solution. His argument was two fold.  First, since any serious math major is
> going to have to know latex eventually, it was better to start her off with
> latex from the beginning when the level of complexity is limited than to
> drop her into latex at the advanced level when she'd have to learn it from
> the ground up in one big bite. Second it solves the problem of how to get
> the student's work to the professors. Rather than using Nemeth and then
> going through some gyrations to put it into a format accessible to sighted
> users, the math faculty would simply read the raw latex.
> :
> : In practical terms it isn't working out quite that cleanly but it is an
> interesting long-term strategy. I have to say as someone who is new to the
> issues, and is sighted, that this all seems way more chaotic than it needs
> to be. I'm just struck by the number of different approaches and the number
> of different steps most of the solutions involve.
> :
> : Paul Chapin
> : Academic Technology Specialist
> : Amherst College
> : X2144
> :
> : Amherst College IT staff will never ask for your password, including by
> email. Any email asking for any password or username is almost certainly
> bogus. Never click on a link in an email to a site that requires a login as
> the link may be bogus. Type in the address yourself. Please keep your
> passwords private to protect yourself and the security of our network.
> :
> : _______________________________________________
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