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Thread: Math symbols and narration
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From: Laurie Kamrowski
Date: Wed, May 13 2020 1:17PM
Subject: Math symbols and narration
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Hi everyone!
I am working on some math equations for some of our classes, and I
encountering some issues with the various symbols. I know that there is
MathXL and a few other math readers, but does anyone here have actual
experience with them? My major concern is that there will be hiccups in the
performance with higher level math equations.
Our school is trying to use as many OER resources as possible to save the
students money. So, we are formulating and writing much of our own
textbooks, or in this case, remediating open source resources and giving
the finished product back to the original creators to assist in their
efforts.
There is only one or two formulas in this entire text, and I don't know how
the math readers will interpret the entirety of the text.
I have screenshotted the formula, inserted as an image, and within the alt
text description, and then narrated the formula in total english.
Here's the image:
[image: The percent of pure live seed is made up of: The percent of pure
seed multiplied by the sum of the percent of seeds in germination and
percent of seeds that are dormant. For example: if the percent of pure seed
is 0.90, and the percent of seed in germination is 0.80, and the percent of
dormant seed is 0.10, then the formula to calculate the pure live seed
would be written like this: 0.90 multiplied by open parenthesis 0.8 plus
0.1 close parenthesis equals 0.81 percent of pure live seed.]
This is the alt text:
"The percent of pure live seed is made up of:
The percent of pure seed multiplied by the sum of the percent of seeds in
germination and percent of seeds that are dormant.
For example:
if the percent of pure seed is 0.90,
and the percent of seed in germination is 0.80,
and the percent of dormant seed is 0.10,
then the formula to calculate the pure live seed would be written like this:
0.90 multiplied by open parenthesis 0.8 plus 0.1 close parenthesis equals
0.81 percent of pure live seed."
Am I going too far into the weeds on this? Any thoughts or ideas would be
greatly appreciated.
Thanks! Stay safe!
Laurie Kamrowski
She/Her/Hers
Accessibility Specialist
Mid Michigan College
From: Noble,Stephen L.
Date: Wed, May 13 2020 4:02PM
Subject: Re: Math symbols and narration
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You should be fine with simply creating the materials as HTML and using MathJax<https://www.mathjax.org/> to serve the math. That allows you to use any standard technique for encoding the math...e.g., MathML, LaTeX, or AsciiMath. There are plenty of examples of OER math textbooks around which are created this way. Here is an example: https://openstax.org/details/books/calculus-volume-1
(you have to use the online version for screen readers to read the math...the downloadable PDF won't be accessible)
Screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA are fine reading the math expression in such materials, as well as some literacy tools like Read&Write.
--Steve Noble
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Hi everyone!
I am working on some math equations for some of our classes, and I
encountering some issues with the various symbols. I know that there is
MathXL and a few other math readers, but does anyone here have actual
experience with them? My major concern is that there will be hiccups in the
performance with higher level math equations.
Our school is trying to use as many OER resources as possible to save the
students money. So, we are formulating and writing much of our own
textbooks, or in this case, remediating open source resources and giving
the finished product back to the original creators to assist in their
efforts.
There is only one or two formulas in this entire text, and I don't know how
the math readers will interpret the entirety of the text.
I have screenshotted the formula, inserted as an image, and within the alt
text description, and then narrated the formula in total english.
Here's the image:
[image: The percent of pure live seed is made up of: The percent of pure
seed multiplied by the sum of the percent of seeds in germination and
percent of seeds that are dormant. For example: if the percent of pure seed
is 0.90, and the percent of seed in germination is 0.80, and the percent of
dormant seed is 0.10, then the formula to calculate the pure live seed
would be written like this: 0.90 multiplied by open parenthesis 0.8 plus
0.1 close parenthesis equals 0.81 percent of pure live seed.]
This is the alt text:
"The percent of pure live seed is made up of:
The percent of pure seed multiplied by the sum of the percent of seeds in
germination and percent of seeds that are dormant.
For example:
if the percent of pure seed is 0.90,
and the percent of seed in germination is 0.80,
and the percent of dormant seed is 0.10,
then the formula to calculate the pure live seed would be written like this:
0.90 multiplied by open parenthesis 0.8 plus 0.1 close parenthesis equals
0.81 percent of pure live seed."
Am I going too far into the weeds on this? Any thoughts or ideas would be
greatly appreciated.
Thanks! Stay safe!
Laurie Kamrowski
She/Her/Hers
Accessibility Specialist
Mid Michigan College