[BlindMath] Seeking Resources to Self-Study Math for Programming

[Steve Jacobson]

William,

For starters, let me warn you that I don't think that you will find a single
road map to get where you are trying to go.  You are likely to get varying
and sometimes even conflicting answers to your questions here, but I assure
you that all answers will come from valid experiences that you will just
have to sort out.  When I majored in math with the thought of getting into
computer programming, the only real option was using braille.  I am still an
advocate of braille although how it is used has changed.  Since you knew
braille but don't have a braille display or your braille skills have become
a little rusty, I would urge you to consider keeping braille as one of your
tools.  It is still very useful even with today's technology.  Most of us
who have used braille find that it is very useful still in mathematics and
in various ways in our computer-related careers.  Since you are looking at a
long term change in careers, considering a braille display or possibly a
braille embosser is more realistic than one might think.  

Having made my plea that you include braille in your plans, there is plenty
of room for speech, LaTex and a number of other tools.  I started to list
them but know I will accidentally forget one that should be mentioned, so I
am going to take the cowardly route and leave such a list to others.  There
are people on this list who have considerable experience with a number of
tools and others who will have a more recent knowledge of texts and other
options that might be useful in brushing up skills.  

You are going to find that there isn't a nice road map because there is not
one route to follow.  Some of what you will need to use will probably depend
upon the materials you settle upon to complete your self-study.  One reason
that I mentioned braille is that you might find the easiest approach is to
review braille texts that are already available as a starting point.  There
are likely other texts available in electronic formats as well, but how the
texts were created may determine which tools you need to use to read those
texts.  In general, we are very, very lucky that there are alternatives that
we did not have even in the recent past, and our options will probably
continue to change in the future.  Therefore, to succeed, it is necessary to
have a number of tools in one's tool chest, but at times this can be
confusing and even a bit frustrating.  Still, to have options is something
for which to be thankful.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson
 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William
Nutt via BlindMath
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2017 10:40 PM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: William Nutt <williamdnutt at gmail.com>
Subject: [BlindMath] Seeking Resources to Self-Study Math for Programming

I am planning to change careers to programming and eventually hope to
return to grad school for a MS in Computer Science. It has been a long
time since I did any math. In high school I went through Algebra II
using braille, and in college I took statistics. I never explored math
using my computer during this time.

Since I want to study artificial intelligence, I need to brush up on
pre-calculus and learn calculus, linear algebra, and discrete
mathematics. I need to do this through self-study and do not have
access to braille output. My primary computer uses NVDA, and I have
access to a Mac with Voiceover as well.

I would appreciate answers to the following questions, since I do not
know how best to proceed.

1. What do I need to learn so that I can embark on this self-study?
Should I learn LaTex or any other frameworks?

2. Where are the best places to learn this information?

3. Are there any other tools or tutorials I should be aware of? Has
someone laid out a roadmap for this kind of project before?

4. What accessible resources do people recommend for learning math for
computer science? What are the best ways to maximize accessibility
with NVDA and Voiceover?

Thank You in Advance,
William Nutt

_______________________________________________
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/steve.jacobson%40visi
.com
BlindMath Gems can be found at
<http://www.blindscience.org/blindmath-gems-home>