[BlindMath] Learning High School Math

[Susan Jolly]

Hi Shail,

Your list of  all the items that are all going at the same time seems
overwhelming to me.  You write that your daughter is about to study Algebra
2 and is looking forward solving math problems independently which are great
goals.

Meanwhile these are some of the things she is doing:
1. Learning Nemeth (but knows braille)
2. Learning LaTeX
3. Improving her use of  the Word Equation Editor
4. Using JAWS
5. Learning NVDA
6. Trying to understand spoken math
7. Perhaps improving her facitly with the very nice braille display she has

And these are some of the problems to be addressed:
1. Reading math and obtaining math to read
2. Writing math and making it available to sighted persons 
3. Learning math from sources on the Web

I think you first need to prioritize what is the most important.  In my
opinion learning math in the sense of really understanding it, not just
passing tests, is the most  important of these items for a high school
student. This can be accomplished by relying on Nemeth braille math for both
reading and writing.

As far as getting the classroom math in braille I would leave that issue to
others for now.  BTW, in case the others aren't aware of it, the free
BrailleBlaster software converts print math, which can be entered in several
ways including ASCIIMath, to Nemeth math.  https://www.brailleblaster.org/

 As far as learning math from sources on the Web I would replace that with a
human math tutor. 

As far as making braille math available to a sighted person I would
investigate Duxbury's new  feature for translating mathematics braille to
inkprint for a sighted teacher. (This is commercial software.)

https://www.duxburysystems.com/documentation/dbt12.5/mathematics/mathematics
.htm

Finally I  mention that the ASCII braille used in a BRF file is based on
Nemeth braille.  BRF files are one of the options available with the Mantis
Q40.  If  the Nemeth math in a BRF file is simply displayed directly in a
standard print font many sighted persons could quickly learn to read at
least algebra if not higher math.  

This article explains the last item:
http://dotlessbraille.org/readnem.htm

Please feel free to contact me privately if that would be helpful.

Best wishes,
Susan Jolly