[Blindmath] Division of Polynomials

Wed May 7 05:51:30 UTC 2014

I couldn't agree more with this message! I am just trying to get through
this to get out of it! I respect all of you in the field of science and
mathematics and engineering. 
 I have found some impressive shortcuts, and mental math tricks. it has been
helped me tremendously.
Well it's helped!
bb

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of sabra1023
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2014 7:29 PM
To: john.gardner at oregonstate.edu; Blind Math list for those interested in
mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Division of Polynomials

Understanding spatial concepts is important yes, but there has to be a point
at which you say that understanding these concepts is impeding your
Learning. You need to learn in the most effective way for you. If you have
tried and tried to understand spatial layouts and you can't, then you should
find an alternate way to learn. There comes a point when you will be
choosing between understanding the spatial layout and learning the Mathew
need to get your degree in succeed at your job. Also, remember that a lot of
us are in college. We don't have the option of doing math on the Perkins. In
my case, it's all I can do to schedule a test with the office for students
with disabilities. There's no way I'm going to get anyone to transcribe my
work from MBraille to print. That's why I use an electronic bro display. I
still like to be able to read my math and read what I'm writing, but I need
to be able to produce it and print at the same time. That bro display only
has one line, which makes it very hard to view spatial layouts on it.
Further, I don't do well with spatial layouts. If I can find a non-spatial
way to do synthetic division that works for me, I will do it.

> On May 4, 2014, at 6:31 PM, "John Gardner" <gardnerj at onid.orst.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi Susan, I agree with you that it is important for students who need 
> to master the subject to be able to communicate with sighted peers.  
> Which means that understanding standard visual layout is usually 
> important even if there are alternate ways to approach a problem.  For 
> people fluent in Nemeth, your references are very good, and most 
> Nemeth-speaking students would do well to follow your advice.
> 
> I will point out however that understanding visual layout does not 
> necessarily require Nemeth braille.  Or any braille.  Pranav's 
> suggestion of using Excel fulfills the same need of understanding 
> layout and can be used by braille readers or by audio speech readers.  
> Though braille is probably faster.
> 
> Be well.
> John
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
> Susan Jolly
> Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2014 3:22 PM
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Division of Polynomials
> 
> Let me start by saying that I know from my own experience as a 
> student, teacher, and parent that not all teachers fully understand 
> their subject.  A
> 
> good teacher is able to communicate with a student and distinguish 
> actual misunderstandings from the student's use of an alternate but 
> valid approach to problem solving.
> 
> I also feel that educational materials in mathematics are often 
> unnecessarily visually-based.  This can be true even in the lower 
> grades such as when a child is asked to count the monkeys who are eating
bananas.
> 
> Finally, I hope that students always have the goal of understanding 
> the content of a course, not just figuring out some way of getting 
> through the course without understanding what is being taught.  
> However, I am not naive enough to think the latter doesn't happen all too
often.
> 
> Those of you were expecting that a "but" is coming were right.  But I 
> do think that it is important for braille-using students to understand 
> how and why common solution procedures work even if they choose to use 
> alternate procedures.  One reason is communication.  There is 
> important mathematical terminology that depends on spatial concepts.  
> The term "place value" is an example. Another reason is that you might 
> need to teach this material to someone else.  After all, Dr. Nemeth 
> taught university math for more than 30
> 
> years.
> 
> Back to the subject. My concern is whether there is a need to reinvent 
> the wheel. The official document for Nemeth Braille was adopted in 
> 1972 and  is available in both print and braille.  Its title is "The 
> Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation 1972 
> Revision." The print version of this book presents print math 
> side-by-side with the corresponding simulated braille in a way that should
be easy for any sighted person to understand.
> Section 180 gives two examples of braille spatial arrangements for 
> division of polynomials. Section 182 explains synthetic division and 
> gives four choices of spatial arrangements for the sample problem.
> 
> There is also a very thorough book on doing spatial math in braille 
> that was
> 
> adopted in 1987.  The title is "Learning the Nemeth Braille Code" by Ruth
H.
> 
> Craig although the book doesn't cover higher mathematics.
> 
> I am very sympathetic to those of you who are students and are having 
> frustrating experiences. I'm happy for you to write me privately and 
> ask questions.  I have a strong background in chemistry, math, 
> computational math, and computer programming and at the very least 
> know enough to know what I don't know!
> 
> Best wishes,
> SusanJ
> 
> 
> 
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