[NABS-L] Symbolic Representations: Equations and Formulas

[D'Agostino, Alfred]

For those who have inquired about accessible mathematics, I have included below an abstract of a presentation I will be making at two professional conferences. From it, you may glean information regarding approaches to reading and rendering symbolic representations. There are others to whom I can refer you, for additional practical information. I do my professional work non-visually and face similar challenges; we need to be problem-solvers, creative and advocates. Although faculty, readers and other services that disability support can offer, there is no substitute for learning material on your own. There will be a NABS NFB SciTech phone conference coming up shortly that would be good to listen to – an announcement will be made again shortly.



Communicating in equations and formulas: Symbolic representations and challenges in the online environment.



In face-to-face classrooms, the teaching of physical and biological sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science, as well as other disciplines relies on visual and symbolic representations. comprehension of the subject matter therefore, depends on accurate communication of information in the form of equations and formulas. In the online course, transmission of symbolic information will require student and instructor to use special techniques and tools to generate special characters in specific formats within documents and ‘text fields’ (including discussion board posts). The equations and formulas displayed in assignments, quizzes, exams and feedback should be correct and readable. Some basic approaches for typing equations and formulas within a learning management system will be highlighted. For simple expressions, the LMS text editor or word Processor will suffice. However, in the case of insertion of some special characters, they may be invisible or appear different than anticipated  to a viewer using another operating system and/or other web browser. Alternatively, the HTML mode may be used to temporarily view and edit the raw HTML of the text, when an HTML entity (named character) may be inserted. If more detailed/ complex equations/ formulas are needed, the native LMS math editor (e.g. MathType in Blackboard) may be used.  If substantial composition is to be done, it may be awkward to do so in this way. Therefore, expressions may be typed using LaTeX format. LaTeX is a mathematical typesetting program which is text-based. By typing standard text on a keyboard, all the mathematical symbols can be represented. It gives the user good control over the formatting of documents. LaTeX code is typed into a text file followed by use of LaTeX software to compile it into a document with standard mathematical notations. When MathType is interface with Microsoft Word ,the LaTeX code is automatically converted into mathematical symbols and notations for use. It is now possible, to embed accessible math equations within Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), Google Docs, Mac Office Software (Pages, Key Note), and D2L using the MathType add-in and MathPlayer. Creating equations using MathType, puts them into the accessible format MathML that can render directly in web browsers. When equations are in MathML, they can be read correctly by a screen reader such as Jaws, NVDA, Read Aloud, and Voice Over; the equations can also then be further processed, i.e. into Braille.




Alfred T. D'Agostino, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Notre Dame of Maryland University