Mathematical structure for dividing mathematical expressions

[Christine Mulse]

Good afternoon, I have a question regarding the structure of where to divide an equation in UEB (not Nemeth). The structure states to divide an expression at comparison signs first, then operation signs, then a mathematical unit such as a fraction. I have and equation that starts at the margin with E = then goes on to a fraction that takes up the entire line from cell 3 on.

If I divide at the equal first, I will then have to divide again at the fraction line.

I feel that this is a list in the order of the "first" options, but you should use the "best" option? I feel in this case leaving the = on the previous line and keeping the fraction together is a better choice here since this is not a linked expression.

I appreciate your thoughts 🙂

[Christine Mulse]

Hi again, I should add the paragraph at the bottom of page 3 in UEB Technical states "Usually the best place to break is before a comparison sign", this says to me that exceptions can be made if they make the expression more clear. I have a contract proofreader who interprets this differently, and since I do training at another organization I'd like to have confirmation. Thanks.

[kdejute]

Thank you for your question.

In the example you describe, I would break before the baseline symbol of comparison and also before the fraction line.

Your desire to keep the fraction unbroken is considerate, and I understand why you would want to do that. One of the reasons we follow a hierarchy for dividing a long mathematical expression is to keep logical units of the expression together/unbroken for ease of reading.

HOWEVER, another of the reasons we follow a hierarchy for dividing a long mathematical expression is to make revisiting the expression intuitive, and we do that by always dividing at the highest priority/hierarchy level first (i.e., a baseline symbol of comparison). That way, wherever possible, an expression that spans multiple braille lines will have at least one line that begins with a baseline symbol of comparison.

Please let me know if that helps or not.

Braille on!
–Kyle

P.S. For what it is worth, I understand the statement that "Usually the best place to break is before a comparison sign" to mean that a comparison sign is not a good place to break when it is part of something other than the baseline/main expression (e.g., an equals sign in Sigma notation, like that shown in GTM §7.9).

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