[Blindmath] Spatial Abilities

[sabra1023 via Blindmath]

I wonder if being blind from birth has to do with it. If I'm remembering how to get somewhere, I just imagine myself walking there. A map doesn't help. I can imagine three-dimensional things very well and make them out of clay. Also, I can remember a two dimensional shape like a circle or square. However, it's difficult for me to imagine and manipulate graphs in my head.

> On May 28, 2014, at 12:07 PM, Susan Jolly via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> There have been a large number of conferences about and studies of the use of tactile maps and diagrams by blind persons.  This has been going on for more than 40 years.  What I got out of reading many of the studies is that different people are different.
> 
> There is, however, a lot of evidence that men have better spatial abilities than women.  I know this is controversial but I think there is some truth to it.  I can see the sun come up east of my house and go down west of my house.  Nonetheless, no matter how hard I try, I cannot imagine that my son who lives 1000 miles west of me lives in the direction where the sun goes down.  I know that it is true logically but when I think about him, he's always somewhere off to the east in my mind.
> 
> As for graphs, it took me years to understand why it is not necessary when laying out a two-dimensional graph to use the same spacing for both axes.  I mention this here for two reasons.  First, it is an example of different people being different.  Second, it points out that the shape of a graph is to some extent arbitrary.  Of course, the general shape is independent of the exact choice of layout. (I'm talking about linear axes; you can dramatically change the shape if you use non-linear axes such as logarithmic ones.)
> 
> SusanJ 
> 
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