[BlindMath] Drawing and Accessing Graphs on the Computer Efficiently

[Bhavya shah]

Dear all,

I have a slightly tricky problem. In my Physics, Chemistry and Math
classes, I often need to deal with a ton of graphs - graphs of
trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions in Math, electric
field intensity VS distance and potential energy VS distance and all
sorts of such questions in Physics, Maxwell’s probability distribution
curve and work done by different types of thermodynamic processes in
Chemistry, just to name a very few. My issue is not with understanding
or visualizing or being taught these graphs, but rather, purely with
noting them for future reference.

The crux of the problem is the amount of time in writing sufficiently
descriptive, and thus lengthy, explanations about how these x-y plane
graphs look like. When it takes me virtually 10 minutes to explain
that in an electric field intensity VS distance graph where a -q
charge is placed on (-x nought,0) and +q charge is placed on (x
nought,0) at x=-infinity the graph (that is y coordinate) would be at
0 because of reason A, then it would incrementally rise up in a
non-linear fashion up till x=x nought due to reason B, then at x
approaches x nought it would be infinity, after x just crosses x
nought there would be a discontinuity and the graph would suddenly
jump to -infinity…. And I would describe the curve from -x nought to
0, 0 to x nought (both approaching and crossing cases), and then from
x nought to infinity. This approach is functional but not feasible
because it is too time-taking and thus problematic in a course of the
nature I am pursuing, wherein an incredibly vast syllabus needs to be
completed in a relatively short span of time.

To give you some additional context around my situation, I am in a
position wherein my sighted teacher can use the mouse to draw the
graph on my computer for me if the process of doing that using some
tool is simple enough, which would be useful only if that graph could
then be accessed somehow by me. I have heard of graph sonification
applications like Math Trax and Audio Graphing Calculator, but have no
past experience with them. I have also heard of recent advancements in
screen reading technologies that makes accessing graphs possible, but
am unclear as to how they operate and whether those graphs include the
kind of Cartesian plane graphs I require to deal with. Presently,
sometimes, I do have some of these graphs drawn on the plastic,
embossing, swell line sheet, and am able to store them for future
reference, but due to a number of reasons, I do not prefer that route.

I would greatly appreciate your tips, suggestions and experiences as
to how best to deal with these constraints. I would like to be able to
produce and subsequently access graphs on my computer without needing
to spend several minutes on writing and reading verbose descriptions
of the same.

Thanks.

-- 
Best Regards
Bhavya Shah

Blogger at Hiking Across Horizons: https://bhavyashah125.wordpress.com/
E-mail Address: bhavya.shah125 at gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavyashah125/