[BlindMath] Question about the visualization of mathematical Concepts

[David Moore]

This is a great question! I had a third of my vision until I was 15! I
visualize a lot based on what I saw at that time! I tutor calculus to
sighted people, and I picture a graph that never breaks at a certain point!
What helped me see math in my head, was the best technology I still use! I
can feel every math symbol in a textbook with a machine called an Optacon!
The Optacon has a camera that I roll over the page, and I keep my left
index finger! In the small machine, and I can feel every print symbol on my
finger tip that I roll the camera over! I use the Optacon to trace graphs,
I can feel the symbols of calculus like the derivative and integral sign,
and I feel the layout of the math text just like I was looking at it. It is
just a crying shame that the Optacon did not take off and it was not made
any more after the early 90s! There are many people my age and older who
cell their optacons for a few hundred dollars! If you know print, you can
read math with the Optacon just like a sighted person! As you move the
camera around the math page, you can feel on your finger tip exactly what
people see! Small pins vibrate against your finger tip! Because I feel the
print symbols I can write math on the board. I use a lot of software to
print out material and so on! The most exciting thing, is that by using the
Optacon, you never have to rely on OCR. You feel exactly what a person can
see! Also I had many friends trace graphs with my finger and they explain
what the graph was doing at very important points! Let me know how I can
help!

On Sun, Nov 28, 2021, 2:17 AM Niels Luithardt via BlindMath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have a question. What techniques do you use to visualize
> mathematical relationships?
>
> Mathematics is more than calculating with letters. How do you create
> pictures in your head and what kind of techniques do you use to
> sharpen the view, the pictures?
>
> Maybe a conceptual example would help:
>
> What kind of picture do you have in your mind when you think of a
> continuous function?
>
> I would be very happy about your answers!
>
> kind Regards
>
> Niels
>
> Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
>
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