[nfbcs] College Math

[Bryan Duarte]

Hey Syed,

I am proud of you man for your hard work and the journey you are about to endure. I will attempt to answer these questions to the best of my ability though my math experience might be totally different from yours.

What strategies would you recommend to a new nemeth reader for reading math?

I attempted to learn nemeth back in 2007 when I was at CCB because I was doubtful of my ability to do math as a blind person since the last time I had done math it was all visual. If you feel like nemeth is going to work well for you to complete math, I would not recommend you reading a book on nemeth code. Reading that book might be more complex that any math course you would see in college. My advice to you would be for you to look up specific symbols and methods for most used equations and make notes on them. For example nemeth uses different structures for how a long division and different notations for subscripts vs. superscripts. As you probably already know the symbols for arithmetic operators like addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. If you take notes on these types of patterns of nemeth it might save your hand, brain, and overall learning experience of what you really need from it. 

Since I used to look at an entire problem all at once, now how can I
look at a problem in its entirety using non visual techniques?

This my friend is a million dollar question. In fact it is a question I never was able to solve myself. I have come up with several different ways to interact with math equations using technology but still this is a problem that exists when you use to do math visually and now have to do it non visually. My best advice here is to figure out what modality works best for you to interact with your math. What I mean is figure out if using nemeth on your refreshable Braille display works for you, or maybe using a text editor on a computer works best. Whatever method of interacting with your math works for you take time to practice reading, writing, reviewing, and modifying equations in this way. Reading math is not the issue in upper level math it is the interaction which will take you out man. Being able to enter your answer and then review your answer to make sure it is correct is the killer.

In regards to math text books, I can read text better using audio but
then equations are thrown in with the text. What is the best way to
handle a math
text book? I have had a book with the theory all in one file and then
links to separate files with the equations. Is this the best way or
are there better
techniques?

I found that listening to the text of my math book from Learning Ally or maybe even Book Share worked great for me, but I was never really able to make good use of the equations embedded in the audio version. I think this method you are using currently should work for you especially if you are learning nemeth code and plan to use your Braille display to interact with it. 

how might latex and math ML be used in reading math?

Latex is great if you have the desire and time to learn it. Latex is just another programming language which allows you to export your code to a visually formatted output. Miss Kathryn Webster is great at Latex as she learned it and used it throughout her math classes. Maybe she can tell you a little more about it if you reach out to her. I never really used it extensively in math because using it to structure the text for my professors never was a big deal to me. They forced me to use online math programs which were inaccessible to me to do my assignments so I figured they would have to take the time to read and understand my method of math interaction for themselves. Now I am not saying this is the best NFB philosophy but it is what it is and I had always talked with my professors before, during, and after to make sure they were understanding my work. 
  
what programs should I use and with which screen readers? I have JAWS,
NVDA, iOS, a focus forty braille display, are there better tools?

In my opinion you are missing your best tool and that is a Mac;) LOL just kidding... Well sort of... Again it comes down to what you are comfortable with man. If you are comfortable with Windows, Jaws, and Braille then you are all set technology wise. If you need further resources later on down the road chances are you wont discover that you need them until it happens. I would recommend looking into a talking graphing calculator and possibly an abacus. I know it sounds crazy but an abacus is amazing at helping you to learn and understand logarithms. 

When math problems are read during lectures, what accommodations do I
need to request? How do I access handwritten notes from the TA or note
taker?

I honestly have no good answer to this one brother. I never had a note taker in math. I usually just wrote down points the professor would make that I felt like would be important and asked for the powerpoint she used in class in a .pdf or word format. I know Kathryn told me one time that she would connect her Braille Note to her professors computer using bluetooth and then she could read what he or she was writing in Braille but since I am not that strong of a Braille reader and do not have a Braille Note this was not an option for me. Maybe someone else could answer this one better for you.

I hope some of these help you buddy. Math is tricky to interact with man and when you use to be able to do that visually it is going to be extra difficult without vision. I know you are a smart and determined dude so just keep your head up and take things as they come. 

Go Devils!

Bryan Duarte
ASU Software Engineering Graduate Student
QwikEyes CEO



> On Jan 29, 2016, at 8:11 AM, Syed Rizvi via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> What strategies would you recommend to a new nemeth reader for reading math?
> 
> I used to look at math visually. I am here for training now at LCB. I
> am learning non visual techniques and I am reading braille with an
> electronic display.
> Since I used to look at an entire problem all at once, now how can I
> look at a problem in its entirety using non visual techniques?
> 
> In regards to math text books, I can read text better using audio but
> then equations are thrown in with the text. What is the best way to
> handle a math
> text book? I have had a book with the theory all in one file and then
> links to separate files with the equations. Is this the best way or
> are there better
> techniques?
> 
> how might latex and math ML be used in reading math?
> 
> what programs should I use and with which screen readers? I have JAWS,
> NVDA, iOS, a focus forty braille display, are there better tools?
> 
> When math problems are read during lectures, what accommodations do I
> need to request? How do I access handwritten notes from the TA or note
> taker?