[nabs-l] college and math

[T. Joseph Carter]

It is somewhat difficult to get college level math books in Braille, and 
they're very expensive to produce.  At the Colorado Center for the Blind, I 
learned that there are a growing number of blind people who are learning a 
subset of the typesetting language LaTeX (note the capitalization of all 
but the vowels and that it is pronounced "la-tek").  LaTeX is a great way 
for blind people to do math because it is unambiguous and can be 
represented in basic ASCII text, which JAWS and Window-Eyes can easily 
manage.

Most higher level math people (very likely to include university faculty in 
the math department) can read LaTeX math, and it's highly likely that the 
math textbook is written in it as well.

It's another thing to learn, I regret, but it's a realistic thing for 
collegiate math, and it's dirt cheap--the software to translate the text 
stream of gibberish that is incomprehensible to people who aren't math 
nerds into graphical/symbolic gibberish that is also incomprehensible to 
people who aren't math nerds (*grin*) happens to be free software.

It's cheap for the publishers, too, since like as not the book is already 
in LaTeX format--they just need to get it for you.

It may or may not be practical, but it's an idea.

Joseph

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 11:01:49AM -0600, Dave Wright wrote:
> Hey there all,
> Here's a message passed on from the BlindMath list... If anyone has  
> suggestions for this HighSchool teacher, please don't hesitate to pass 
> them on... I think this is a great recruiting opportunity...
>
>
> Best Regards:
> David Wright
>
> Email: dwrigh6 at gmail.com
> Mobile: 512-203-2474
>
> http://www.knfbreader.com
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy Fraase" 
> <kathy_fraase at bismarckschools.org>
> To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:24 AM
> Subject: [Blindmath] college and math
>
>
>> I have a student who is blind that is going to college next year.  She
>> is trying to decide between a public or private college.   We are trying
>> to figure out how to get a math book in Braille for college.  Where does
>> one look to see what is available and where would one find a braillist
>> to get one brailled quickly?  Have people taken a math class without a
>> brailled text?
>>
>>
>>
>> This is an above average student who has done very well in high school.
>> She is good with technology and uses a laptop and braillenote very well.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Any thoughts or suggestions on this topic or college for a student who
>> is blind would be appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kathy
>>
>
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