[BlindMath] For Elise: was average r.o.c. question

[vincentfmartin2020 at gmail.com]

Excellent..... As I was monitoring this thread, I had to go and look up how
it is taught in a number of books and on the web. 
It was a great trip down memory lane as  I first learned this thirty-five
years ago!


  


-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
via BlindMath
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 10:18 AM
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] For Elise: was average r.o.c. question

All,

Doug makes some good points in his note below.  As the person who attempts
to moderate this list, I never quite know what we should do when we get
specific questions relating to homework or class examples.  As we have
gradually discovered here, the original question came from a very specific
example in a course, but our answers have covered a number of approaches.
It is important, in my opinion, for any student to understand the solution
to a problem within the context of the course and the particular instructor.
Even if we provide advice that is correct, it may be confusing or even
irrelevant if it does not help a student understand exactly what the
professor was trying to convey within the context of the specific course.
For example, this subject is often taught with a dependency on understanding
a graph.  It is possible that the real question has more to do with how the
function is displayed on a graph rather than how the average rate of change
should be calculated.  Often, the rate of change is discussed in a class as
the slope of a line at a given point.  Understanding the slope of a line can
be very useful in understanding problems like this, even for those of us who
are blind.  While I respect the fact that picturing relationships like this
is difficult for some people and albebraic approaches are more helpful, I
don't think it is something that should be assumed is the case for all of us
who are blind.  Sometimes an explanation from someone who has given this
some thought from a blindness perspective can go a great distance toward
explaining a graph to a blind person.  I would hastily add that while
another blind person may have experience that can help with this, I've known
sighted teachers who are able to convey some of these concepts very well.  

If we can help by trying to explain, perhaps using alternative approaches,
the specific portion of the issue causing the difficulty, we should try to
do that.  I would submit, though, exploring numerous methods of solving this
problem, with some approaches being well beyond the likely scpope of the
class, is going to be more confusing than helpful.  It can easily give the
impression that more is not understood than is really the case.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Doug and Molly
Miron via BlindMath
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 7:56 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Doug and Molly Miron <mndmrn at hbci.com>
Subject: [BlindMath] For Elise: was average r.o.c. question

Good day Elise,


I'd really like to get back on track with your problem.  You can see from
the messages that we didn't really understand the state of knowledge from
which you were starting the problem, what exactly was your difficulty.
Please enlighten us.  Thanks.


Regards,

Doug Miron




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