[nabs-l] Braille Math question

[Jamie P.]

Hi,

When I am teaching other blind students how to do this, I do it like this: The reason we can cancel out like terms in the numerator and the denominator is because any fraction with the same term in both the numerator and denominator (that is, anything divided by itself) is equal to 1. So when you see like terms in your fraction, try rewriting the fraction so that the like terms are off to one side by themselves. That way you can see where they are and that they are accounted for, but you can also see what the fraction looks like without them. Remember, they never really "go away". They're just factors of 1. We don't have to write our factors of 1 because anything times 1 is just itself. 

You can then rewrite the fraction on the next line with all the factors of 1 gone. You just write what it looks like without the like terms you sorted out. Simplified!

I'd be happy to help if you have any more questions. I've tutored both blind and sighted students in math from middle school to college calculus for several years now. 

Best,
Jamie

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 29, 2017, at 16:58, Mikayla Gephart via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
>     I will be discussing this with my TVI tomorrow, but need to get your thoughts on this as well. Sorry if I overwhelm anyone, but I am hoping my explanations will be worth it. I am studying rational expressions (AKA fractions) in Math class. I am not good at Math, so it can take me a while to understand concepts. Do you all know how when multiplying fractions with variables, you cancel out like terms in the fraction? I was sitting with my privately hired math tutor today, and she was mentioning how sighted students put a line through what they are canceling out, so that they can see what the numbers are, but know that they canceled them out. I tried scratching them out with my finger, but that did not work well. Any other thoughts? Thank you.
> Sincerely,
> Mikayla
> 
> P.S.
> I do my math on the Perkins Braillewriter.
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