[kdejute]

Mary,

Just a few more points:

Joanna is right. Promising Practices has been officially withdrawn.

It's true that the best situation is to work closely with the teacher or someone else trained in early elementary instruction in order to suss out what basic concept each exercise was designed to address. Armed with that knowledge, it's possible to design a braille presentation that addresses the same concept in an accessible manner. It is possible that this information is available in the form of references to Common Core standards printed on each page or with each exercise.

Even if your book does not include a reference to the Common Core standards, reading through the Kindergarten portion of the standards may help you to identify what the goal of an exercise is. The standards are available here: [url=http://www.corestandards.org/Math/]link[/url]

As you take on this book, in a very Zen-like manner, one page at a time, please feel welcome to share here an image of any pages that are giving you fits. We can team up on them and take them down, as it were.

–Kyle

[kdejute]

Thank you for your question and your patience.

Alright then; let's get down to business. Here are responses to your questions, based on my understanding of the Provisional Guidelines:

p. 684, question 4: Since enclosed lists are specifically provided for in the Nemeth Code, I would say that grid coordinates presented as little enclosed lists should be transcribed in Nemeth mode.

p. 684, question 7: In order to ensure that you use the same dots for all percent signs throughout the document, I would switch into Nemeth mode for this list of percentages (including the answer choice identifiers A-D).

p. 685, question 35: Since this table's entries consist only of simple numbers, I believe the whole table can be transcribed in UEB.

p. 686, question 3: The answer choices that consist only of numbers could be transcribed in UEB.

p. 686, questions 9 & 11: Superscripts should be presented using Nemeth symbols, not the UEB super- or subscript indicators.

You might say that "math notation" refers to material that is presented differently in Nemeth Code than it is in UEB. And such material should be transcribed in Nemeth mode whether it appears alone or in the midst of an equation or expression.

[kdejute]

I have come across the same thing. It is from a chapter on probability.

If A and B are dependent events, then P(A and B) = P(A)*P(B | A)

1. Would you leave a space before and after the vertical bar?
2. Are letter signs needed for (A | B)?

Also, would you use a letter sign on the r in the fraction ?r radians/.p radians#
edited by crepemyrtle on 7/14/2015
edited by crepemyrtle on 7/16/2015

[kdejute]

Thank you, Cindi!

[kdejute]

I would suggest that you devise an abbreviation for these shapes and describe their function in a transcriber's note. I believe you could use [simbraille]$k$sa][/simbraille] for the first shape (calculator key, shade above for linear inequality) and [simbraille]$k$sb][/simbraille] for the second shape (calculator key, shade below for linear inequality).

Ideally, you should provide a tactile representation of these shapes, either within your TN or in preliminary pages.

Please see the portion of the 2007 update to the Nemeth Code that deals with section 111.d (calculator keys) as well as section 107 of the Nemeth Code.
edited by Kyle Transcriber on 7/6/2015

[kdejute]

Sorry, I meant the y in y-axis did not need a letter sign in this instance. I was thinking x-axis instead of y-axis.

Thank you for your reply.

[kdejute]

I'm not sure what "x" you're saying does not need a letter sign. However, your suggested transcription of "R sub y-axis" is correct.

As for the punctuation indicator. You do need it between "R sub y-axis" and a period. Please see Nemeth Code section 37.x, which deals with this issue. (The reasoning here could be that "R sub y-axis" is all one expression, which represents one value, so it is technical material and so needs to be separated from punctuation by a punctuation indicator.)

[kdejute]

My pleasure! (I was just re-reading that Nemeth update, and your question helped to solidify it in my brain. So, thank you.)

[kdejute]

Thank you for your question.

I believe your first suggested transcription is the correct one, with spaces before and after the cancellation indicators, because spaces are required around an abbreviation (they just have to be polite and stand outside the cancellation indicator and its terminator. This makes reading the equation more intuitive.).

Please see the update to the Nemeth Code that deals with this: [url=http://www.brailleauthority.org/nemethupdates2015/rule-viii-54/Nemeth%20Update%20Rule%20VIII%2054.pdf]link[/url].

–Kyle

[kdejute]

Thank you, Kyle, and also to your committee, too. You are all very helpful!
Susan

[kdejute]

Joanna,

Here is a belated "thank you" for your illuminating answer!

–Kyle

[kdejute]

x-coordinate of M = 9/2
should be transcribed as follows:

[simbraille];x-coord9ate ( ,m .k #9_/2[/simbraille]

Because the M is next to the sign of comparison, it should not have a letter indicator. See §55.a in the Nemeth Codebook.

[kdejute]

Thank you so much!
Susan

[kdejute]

Thanks for your patience.

Yes it's all still the case. When there is no running it may indeed look strange when line 1 is blank. But the information that conveys to the braille reader is much more important than how looks. The purpose of blank lines for the braille reader is not appearance, but to provide information about changes in formatting or context WHEREVER such a change takes place. The information is given to the reader at the location where it takes places place or goes into effect.

if there's no RH, line 1 can be blank. Blank line required after closing box. If the closing box line is on line 25, the next available line to be blank is line 1 on the next page because box lines are preceded and followed by a blank line, with the exception of certain headings, but that doesn't apply here.

Lists work in a similiar way, with specific provisions. See Formats 8.3.4

BF 8.3.4. Lists Starting at the Top of Braille Pages
A list can start on line 1 when a running head is not used, [u]if there are two or more blank lines at the bottom of the previous page.[/u] Start the list on line 2 when [u]braille is on the last, or next-to-last line of the previous page.[/u] (I have added the bold and the underlining.)

So if your list ends on line 24 OR line 25, line 1 is blank on the next page. Notice that this guideline about lists specifies when braille must start on line 1 of the next page and when braille must start on line 2 (leaving line 1 blank).

And yes it looks funny. But when you get used to it, it looks better.

--Joanna

[kdejute]

I have a few pieces of information for you:

1) The next release of Duxbury (DBT), which should come out this month, will include a character style called "Nemeth" that should translate what's enclosed in that style according to Nemeth rules while allowing the surrounding text to be in UEB. There is also an "altmath" technique that can be used in DBT to select what code will be used to translate technical material while allowing non-technical material to be translated using another code. More information about this can be found in the DBT Help menus.

2) I expect that 2016 will see one or more NBA workshops that include information on using software to create Nemeth material in a UEB context.

3) At this time, I do not know of any lectures dealing with software and Nemeth code.

4) I do not personally use them, but you may find that the combination of Scientific Notebook and Duxbury meets some of your needs. More information about this is available on Duxbury's website: [url=http://www.duxburysystems.com/dbt_math.asp]link[/url]

Thank you for your time. Please do let me know if you have further questions.

–Kyle

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