[BlindMath] Seeking guidance for Discrete Mathematics

Sun Aug 30 20:59:34 UTC 2026

Hello,

I'm very impressed by your level of dedication. Trying all the methods people recommended is a fantastic sign about your ability to succeed, and for people like me trying to help you, makes it much easier. Some people are too busy or do not have the knowledge to be able to do this, so this is not critical of them, but please feel free to reach out to me on or off list if I might be able to assist you in the future.

Did you download Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics, or the exact book your class is using? I downloaded the combinatorial one, since it's publisher quality, but I can test the other one out if that will not work.

I tested out a few things in sections 3.4 and 3.5. Some numerical things say math content, and others don't, especially if they're more simple. If something says math content, you can press enter on it. After you press enter, using left and right arrows will make it a bit easier to understand the math that's being spoken. If you're using a Braille display that's 40 cells or wider, that should be especially helpful for reading the Braille. If you don't have one, I'd recommend telling your college's disability resource office, or VR agency, like a commission for the blind, that you absolutely need them to buy you one in order for you to be able to access the materials necessary for your class, and to do coding with fewer errors.

Publisher quality books are the best Bookshare has, and they tend to be great overall, but they vary and aren't quite as good as some books on OpenStax or in PreTexT in terms of a screen reader being able to read them. For example, the PreTexT books will probably give you the ability to hit down arrow to learn more about the smaller expressions in an equation, in a way that isn't quite working for this book. But if you need this book or a very similar one to line up with what the instructor teaches, this might be the best option.

Best of luck with your studies,

Avery

On Aug 30, 2026, at 7:37 AM, Aru M <sheratalmi at gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all,

I really appreciate the suggestions provided by all of you.

I got the subscription for ChatGPT and will be looking forward to leverage it for my learning.

I looked into the two books through the link in the email and they seem to be covering almost everything that may be taught as part of this subject. They are very much accessible and therefore, be tremendously helpful in learning the concepts.

A sighted person looked into the textbook in Word format (opened in Microsoft Word) but the equations are in text format only and therefore, special Math notations are gone. I was hoping that the equations would be in Equation Editor then I can use it but unfortunately not.

Thanks for suggestion about the Thorium app. I opened the EPUB version of the book in the app and it is also not correctly reading the Math content though the content is rendered correctly. I enabled the screen reader optimization for the book but it didn't helped. Is there any setting that I need to do to enable correct Math reading?

Thanks
Arushi

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of avery ingram via
BlindMath
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2026 10:58 PM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: avery ingram <avery8ingram at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Seeking guidance for Discrete Mathematics

Hello,

I have a solution that might work. The book Handbook of Discrete and
Combinatorial Mathematics, from the same author, seems to be publisher
quality, so it should render a lot better. The book might be really similar,
but you could ask a TA to tell you which parts correspond to your class's
book.

If you get the free Thorium app on your computer, and download the book in
epub format, it should work especially well. I think this book has images.
Whenever you're on an equation or image, you should be able to use picture
smart AI with JAWS. To do that, have your cursor on the image, then press
JAWS key with space, then p, then shift with c. It might not give you the
best description, but if you ask it a follow-up question and include context
you remember about the image or equation, it should give you a great
description. Best of luck.

Avery

On Aug 29, 2026, at 3:51 PM, Aru M via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

Hello,

I am a sophomore at Purdue University studying Computer Science and seeking
guidance in successfully navigating one of the subjects that I am currently
struggling in.

The subject is CS-182. Though, it says Computer fundamentals but it is
essentially discrete math covering topics like Logic, proofs,  sets,
functions, complexity, induction, recursive algorithms, finite automata,
graphs. Semester has just started but I can feel the heat.

The assigned textbook "Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications" by Kenneth
H. Rosen is available on Bookshare.org but on downloading in all the
possible formats available there, I find that none of them is truly
accessible and even wonder if it shows the correct information. The Math
equations are not read correctly.

I rely completely on JAWS on the Windows laptop and haven't used braille in
past many years. For the Math content, I use Equations Editor on Microsoft
Word to read the problems and solve them.

The DRC department at the university provides me the lecture notes and other
related content in MS Word but I need something to read to understand the
concepts like textbook in this case.

I was wondering if anyone here faced something similar and found any
workaround.

Looking forward to any suggestions that you might deem helpful.

Best regards,
Arushi
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