[BlindMath] I'm blind! I love math! I want to go higher than high school geometry.

Sat Sep 16 04:18:20 UTC 2023

Recently, I used large language models like ChatGPT to obtain
description of pictures. I had a reasonable amount of success with
Claude 2 from Anthropic.

On 9/15/23, Bert Van Landeghem via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Concerning text description of graphs, I recently used Be My AI for this
> purpose. The process still requires a few steps if you work from a Windows
> computer, as you will need to send the graph to your Android or Apple
> device, but the description of plots is quite insightful (including
> descriptions of line crossings and tangential points) and I was very happy
> with the result. I hope such features are soon available to use from a
> laptop computer and that automated graph descriptions are further refined.
>
> Kind regards,
> Bert
>
> On Fri, 15 Sept 2023 at 15:05, Lucas Radaelli via BlindMath <
> blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Reading your message brings me the thought that I always have:
>> we should have more accessible materials so blind people could study math
>> on their own.
>>
>> A combination of html books + mathml + braille + described images should
>> be
>> a good start.
>>
>> Does anyone know if there is a project to adapt many math books like this?
>> Bookshare and some other options that I have seen are not universal; they
>> only work for the US and other countries would be left out. I think some
>> sort of accessible open wiki could be the way.
>>
>>
>>
>> HEm sex., 15 de set. de 2023 às 05:08, Ray McAllister via BlindMath <
>> blindmath at nfbnet.org> escreveu:
>>
>> > I don't find your email address anyhwhre,, but I am very good with
>> Nemeth.
>> > I don't have an embosser of any type, so someone would have to emboss
>> > the
>> > things and Free-Matter-for-the-Blind them to me.  My email address is
>> > raymcal at att.net for private emails.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Ray.
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David
>> > W.
>> > Farmer via BlindMath
>> > Sent: Friday, September 15, 2023 7:28 AM
>> > To: Ray McAllister via BlindMath
>> > Cc: David W. Farmer
>> > Subject: Re: [BlindMath] I'm blind! I love math! I want to go higher
>> > than
>> > high school geometry.
>> >
>> >
>> > Dear Ray,
>> >
>> > The PreTeXt protect, specifically David Austin and Rob Beezer,
>> > is currently working on an accessible version of the book
>> > Active Prelude to Calculus.  This includes Nemeth braille and
>> > accessible diagrams, with the diagrams having both a tactile
>> > representation and a description with words.
>> >
>> > The level of the mathematics seems appropriate for you, and I am
>> > sure they would be happy to have you as a proofreader.  You did
>> > not mention whether you can read Nemeth.  I am not sure what type
>> > of embosser these diagrams require.
>> >
>> > If you email me off-group, the four of us can talk about how
>> > to proceed.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > David
>> >
>> >
>> > On Fri, 15 Sep 2023, Ray McAllister via BlindMath wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hi, I'm totally blind, and have loved math and been good at math since
>> my
>> > > father started teaching me when I was 3 and 4 years old.  I could do
>> > > long-hand division problems in my head at age 6.  I won math
>> competitions
>> > in
>> > > high school.  One day, bored, in church, in high school, I figured
>> > > out,
>> > in
>> > > my head, how to find the 5 5th roots of a number, using intuition,
>> > > completing the square, and the quadratic formula to break x^5 = y^5
>> down.
>> > > Last year, when I had Covid, I wanted to make sure nothing was
>> happening
>> > to
>> > > my brain, so I started playing with magic square patterns, with inner
>> > magic
>> > > squares, a border square, basically.  I got up to 10x10 on my own, and
>> > then
>> > > wrote a computer program to take it up to 1000x1000 which means that I
>> > have
>> > > this Excel spread sheet here with a list of numbers from 1 to 1
>> > > million
>> > that
>> > > is a magic square, all rows, columns, and diagonals adding up to the
>> same
>> > > number, with about 40,000 smaller magic squares inside it.
>> > >     My path has been rather weird.  While I'm as good at math as many
>> > > people are socially, soecially, I'm as dyslexic as most people seem to
>> be
>> > > with math.  Since higher math wasn't as accessible, as my small high
>> > school
>> > > didn't offer trig and precalculus, and things weren't as accessible, I
>> > ended
>> > > up following another passion, ministry, and ultimately got a pH.D. in
>> Old
>> > > Testament, helping code advanced Hebrew symbols into Braille, which I
>> was
>> > > part of the team that won the 2016 Bolotin award from the NFB.  Well,
>> my
>> > > Ph.D. is getting me nowhere now, and my mind, at 48, is beginning to
>> turn
>> > > toward math again, if anything, for a hobby.  I was able to go onto
>> Khan
>> > > Academy and go through Trig, and while I can't see the diagrams, I was
>> > able
>> > > to figure out a number of proofs in my head.  I've had to get my
>> student
>> > > loans forgiven, so I'm not allowed to take out any more federal loans,
>> > and
>> > I
>> > > wouldn't anyway for any more training.  I'm still wondering what kind
>> of
>> > > path there could be for me in math, for fun, career, whatever.  I
>> > > can't
>> > > afford any of those fancy graphical embossers.  I'd love to go at
>> > > least
>> > > through Calculus, somehow.  I just work so naturally with numbers.  I
>> > feel
>> > > so held back by the world that just never seems to move fast enough
>> > > for
>> > me,
>> > > if anyone out there understands.
>> > >
>> > > I have, though, been thinking of a way higher math, at least, at
>> > > times,
>> > > could be described in text for someone who is blind and doesn't have
>> all
>> > the
>> > > fancy equipment.  Sy lrsdy, for trig, has anyone played around the
>> > Cartesian
>> > > coordinate plane?  If you don't know how that works by the time you
>> reach
>> > > trig, you're in a lot more trouble than missing triangle images.
>> > Basically,
>> > > you could say,  We have a triangle, point A is on the origin.  Point B
>> is
>> > at
>> > > (4, 0) and point C is at (1, 7).  Segment a is the line hooking points
>> B
>> > and
>> > > C.  Segment b hooks points A and C.  Segment c hooks points A and B.
>> You
>> > > can do all kinds of things with this, including run a line segment d
>> down
>> > > from point C, straight vertically to the X axis to split this into 2
>> > right
>> > > triangles.  You can, then, write out proofs for things, and the blind
>> > reader
>> > > need only remember this diagram.  I wrote out a proof for the Law of
>> > Sines
>> > > using this system, and a couple more points and line segments I had to
>> > come
>> > > u pwith on Line c. I haven't found any place with Braille books on
>> > > this
>> > > stuff I can access.  Of course, if someone's special ed office hired a
>> > > transcriber to transcribe a math book, has anyone thought of finishing
>> > the
>> > > job and getting it in the National Library Service once the blind
>> student
>> > is
>> > > done with the material?
>> > >
>> > > I welcome discussion on this.
>> > >
>> > > Write soon,
>> > > Ray McAllister.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
>> > > www.avast.com
>> > >
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