[BlindMath] Experiment.

[Ray McAllister]

Okay, here's an experiment I'd like to do.  I'd like to take a subject in
higher math that really there isn't an easy text book in accessible format
for online.  I believe analytic geometry might be an example.  Then, see if
I can get Chat GPT or some chat bot to write a course in that field for me.
I already know that Chat GPT does a very good job with Pretext Mathjax work,
and, I can explain that I'm blind, and I get a diagram-free, well-described
situation.  I would be good for this task since I'm studying higher math,
simply for fun, so there's no risk.  If it doesn't work, I'm not in danger
of failing a class or something.  

What I would do, as I have contacts in a local university's math department:
I'd probably get a copy of their syllabus for the class, and, maybe a review
sheet for the exams, and then submit those to Chat GPT.  Then, we'd do
lesson by lesson, and I already have experience with this with Chat GPT.  I
had it develop a short lesson, with worked examples, on Ferrari's Quartic
Equations method, and I was able to understand it well enough to code a
computer program to solve quartic equations that way.  I do catch mistakes
now and then, and that's part of the process.  But my end result would be to
see if I could do this, and then take a real exam, and see how I'd do.  

Now, if this actually can prove successful, I'm not sure where to go.
Obviously, one couldn't just completely replace a course's text books with
AI, for the blind, but there is the idea that universities and colleges do
have "independent study" options, and if there are a couple subjects that
just aren't workable there, maybe a blind person could do this for
independent study credit as a work-around.  Sometimes the experiment comes
before the complete vision of how to make it practical.  

 

What do you think of such an experiment?  There's no cost, no risk.  That I
know.  

 

I've also done well having Chat GPT describe mathematical diagrams for me,
so I think I could do this.  

 

I wonder what subjects would be best.  I'm thinking Analytical Geometry,
though a real challenge might be topology.  

 

Anyway, just throwing this out for thought.  I'm currently doing Abstract
Algebra and Complex Analysis online, and I often have to get tutoring with
Chat GPT on abstract algebra, but I am understanding it. 

 

But it will be a few months before I finish one of the books and set up to
start something new. 

 

Thanks, 

Ray.