Nemeth Tutorial User Guide 1 Overview Congratulations on purchasing the BrailleNote Nemeth Tutorial and welcome to the Nemeth Tutorial User Guide. For future reference, a copy of the User Guide is available in the Nemeth Tutorial folder on the Flash Disk. In the USA and in a number of other English speaking countries, Nemeth Code is used for writing mathematics, science, and other technical material in Braille. It is very important that all blind students, especially those studying higher mathematics, learn to read and write Nemeth Code proficiently. The Nemeth Tutorial for the BrailleNote is an excellent tool that supports learning the Nemeth Code. It is also useful as a refresher course. The Tutorial is designed for a wide range of students, from the fifth grade through to college level. Your package contains the following items: ? Braille Installation Instructions. ? CompactFlash card, containing the Software, Installation Instructions and User Guide. ? Printed User Guide. ? BrailleNote Nemeth Tutorial Teacher's Reference CD. The Teacher's Reference is also available from the HumanWare website, www.humanware.com. The Nemeth Tutorial has 18 Chapters. Each Chapter has several Lessons. The Tutorial begins with simple mathematical symbols, such as the numeric indicator and progresses to the symbols required for calculus. See the Appendix for a full list of the Chapters and Lessons in the tutorial. Most Lessons have four parts: 1. Explanation. This section introduces the lesson topic and gives examples in speech and Braille. 2. Reading exercises. The reading exercises provide practice reading the symbols studied in the lesson. 3. Writing exercises. These offer the chance to practice Brailling the symbols studied in the lesson 4. Proofreading exercises. These present an item which contains one or more errors. You then have a chance to edit the item and correct the errors. Lessons which focus on spatially arranged contents do not have exercise sections because it is not possible to depict spatially arranged items on a tactile display that only shows one line at a time. The Nemeth Tutorial requires the student to read Braille tactually, and to write Braille. This means that the BrailleNote BT is the best model to use for this tutorial. However, the BrailleNote QT can also be used by Brailling on the home row keys when Braille entry is required. Use the following keys on the BrailleNote QT keyboard: Use f for dot 1 Use d for dot 2 Use s for dot 3 Use j for dot 4 Use k for dot 5 Use l for dot 6 For BACKSPACE you can use the a key and for ENTER you can use semicolon. You can also use the dedicated QWERTY keys for BACKSPACE and ENTER. This tutorial is not currently available for the BrailleNote PK and Classic, and it is not suitable for the VoiceNote which doesn't allow tactile reading. 2 Getting Started 2.1 Installation Procedure Please note that to use this tutorial you must be running KeySoft 7.2 or greater. Note: Your package is specific to your BrailleNote and is linked to the serial number of your machine. It will not run on other machines. To install the Nemeth Tutorial on your machine: 1. First reset your BrailleNote with dots 1-2-3 or SDF on a QWERTY keyboard held down. To do this, press and hold down these keys and, while continuing to hold them, press and release the RESET button. Continue holding the keys down and release them when KeySoft starts to speak its version information. 2. Check that you have at least 4 MB of free space on your Flash Disk. 3. Insert the CompactFlash Card in the CompactFlash slot. 4. From the "Main Menu", go to the "Utilities Menu" and select "Install KeySoft extension". 5. Choose the CompactFlash drive and the directory offered, which is the root directory. 6. When KeySoft says "KeySoft extension name?", select "BrailleNote Nemeth Tutorial" package, as offered. 7. Follow the installation instructions displayed by the installation software. Once the installation is complete KeySoft will automatically open the User Guide for you to read so that you can become familiar with the Nemeth Tutorial. Once you have finished reading, press SPACE with E (BT), or ESCAPE (QT) and you will return to the "Main Menu". 8. The CompactFlash card can now be removed and will not be required again unless you need to re-install the tutorial. You are now ready to use the Nemeth Tutorial. If you have any problems with the installation, feel free to contact our support staff. 2.2 Prerequisites Before you use the tutorial make sure that you: ? Have mastered your BrailleNote mPower. The commands for operating the tutorial are very similar to those used to operate the BrailleNote. ? Are able to read Braille tactually. ? Have installed the tutorial on your BrailleNote. See the Installation Procedure section of this User Guide. 3 Starting the Nemeth Tutorial 1. Go to the "Main Menu" on your BrailleNote. 2. Select the Extensions option, by stepping through the "Main Menu" until you get to "Extensions" and pressing Enter, or by pressing X anywhere in the "Main Menu". 3. From the List of KeySoft Extensions, go to "Nemeth Tutorial" by stepping through the list until you get to Nemeth Tutorial and pressing Enter, or by pressing N followed by Enter. If this is the first time that you have used the Tutorial, the Nemeth Tutorial Contents displays. If you have used the Tutorial before, you will be asked if you would like to continue the lesson that you were last working on. If you want to continue the lesson, press Y. If you want to select another lesson, press N to return to the Tutorial Contents. Remember you can use HELP (SPACE with H) at any time for context sensitive help. 3.1 Moving around the Contents The Contents has two levels. The first level is the list of Chapters. The second level is the list of Lessons within the Chapter. The Nemeth Tutorial Chapter and Lesson lists work in the same way as all lists in KeySoft. As well as using the usual KeySoft list commands to review these lists, you can go to a Chapter in the Contents by typing the first letter of the Chapter title, or by typing the first digit of the number of the item in the list. On the braille keyboard, you must use dropped numbers for this, for example 2 is dots 2-3. For example, if you want to choose "3. Decimal Point and Related Symbols" from the Contents list, you can either press 3 (dots 2-5 in braille) to take you to the first Chapter that starts with a 3, or press D to take you to the first Chapter in the contents that starts with D. Pressing D a second time will take you to "5. Division and Fractions signs". Once you have gone to the Chapter you want, select it by pressing ENTER. Similarly, when you are in a list of Lessons, you can go to a Lesson by using the first letter of the title, or the first second-level digit, in the same way that you can move through the list of Chapters. For example, when you select "3. Decimal Point and Related Symbols", the following list is displayed: "List of Lessons for 3. Decimal Point and Related Symbols" "3.1 The Decimal point" "3.2 The multipurpose indicator" "3.3 Monetary signs: dollar, pound sterling, cent" "3.4 Percent sign" and so on to "End of List" If you want to go to "3.2 The multipurpose indicator", you can either press 2 (dots 2-3 in braille) to take you to the second item, or press T to take you to the same item in the list. To select a different Chapter, press EXIT (SPACE with dots 1-5) (BT), or ESCAPE (QT) to go back to the Chapters list. To exit the tutorial, either press MAIN MENU (SPACE with dots 1-2-3-4-5-6) (BT), or MENU (QT) or Exit back one level at a time by pressing EXIT (SPACE with dots 1-5) repeatedly (BT), or ESCAPE (QT). 3.2 Searching for Lessons You can search for lessons that deal in a particular topic by using FIND (SPACE with F) (BT), or READ with F (QT). If you are in the Contents list, then the Chapter and Lesson titles will be searched. If you are in a Lesson list, then the Lesson titles of that Chapter are searched. The search result is a list of Lessons which can be accessed like other lists in KeySoft. For example, if you search for Multiplication, a list of the Lessons that deal with Multiplication is presented. Press SPACE to step through the list of results. Select the first lesson that you want to go to in the results list by pressing ENTER. The results list is kept until you ask KeySoft to find a different topic or EXIT back to the Contents. This means that when you have finished in the first Lesson you selected (or if you go to a lesson and discover that it is not the one you wanted), you can press EXIT and return to the results list to select another lesson on the same topic. 4 Selecting a Lesson To select a lesson, you press ENTER on the lesson in the lesson list and the "Activity Menu" for the lesson is displayed. From the "Activity Menu" you can select the Explanation for the lesson, or one of the exercises. For example, the "Activity Menu" for lesson "3.2 The multipurpose indicator" is: "Explanation" "Reading exercises" "Writing exercises" "Proofreading exercises" Select an activity using the standard KeySoft Menu commands. To select a different lesson, press EXIT to go back to the list of Lessons. To select a different chapter, press EXIT from the list of Lessons. To exit the tutorial, either press MAIN MENU, or go back one level at a time by pressing EXIT repeatedly. 4.1 Reading the Explanation Section You read the Explanation section of a lesson as if you were reading in KeyBook. See the Book Reader section in your BrailleNote User Guide. The specific approach that you take to reading the Explanation section will depend on how you like to study information in braille. If you are an accomplished braille reader, you can read the explanation in braille on the braille display and ask KeySoft to say any Nemeth Code symbols that you want to examine closely so that you can find out how they are spoken, and what they are called. If you prefer learning by listening, you can listen to the explanation and stop the speech if you want to examine the Nemeth Code symbols more carefully on the braille display. When you are reading Nemeth Code, what KeySoft speaks depends on the command you are using, and your punctuation level setting. Take 3×5, for example. In Nemeth, this is written as numeric indicator (dots 3-4-5-6), three (dots 2-5), multiplication cross (dot 4 followed by dots 1-6), and five (dots 2-6). If you move through 3×5 using the character movement commands, KeySoft moves the cursor cell by cell and speaks the name of the symbol under the cursor. So you will hear "Numeric Indicator" followed by "three" followed by "multiplication cross" and then on the next press you will hear "multiplication cross" again because the cursor is now on the second cell of the multiplication cross symbol. When you press the next character command again, you will hear "five". To hear the dot combination of the cell under the cursor, press the current character command twice. The word movement commands take all symbols between spaces as one "word". So, using the same example, because 3×5 has no spaces, it is taken as one word, so you will hear "three, multiplication cross, five" all spoken as one word. If you read 3×5 and you are moving by line, by sentence, or continuously, (and your punctuation level is set at the factory default of 2) you will hear "three times five". In another example, if you moving by line, by sentence, or continuously and are reading 3²+6, you will hear "three superscript 2 base-line plus six". When you are reading the Explanation section, you will come across the special grade 2 and Nemeth indicators which are displayed in braille as "computer braille dollar sign g2" and "computer braille dollar sign gn". These indicators are not there to let you know about a code change (because all of the Explanation sections are in Nemeth code) but are needed by KeySoft so that the braille is interpreted correctly for speech and visual display. Note: The Book Reader clipboard feature is not available when you are reading lesson explanations. When you have finished in the Explanation section, press EXIT to go back to the "Activity Menu". 4.2 Exercises If this is your first time in an exercise, you are taken to the instructions and then on to the first item. If you have started an exercise already, you will be taken to the last item that you were answering and any answer, or part answer that you have entered will be displayed. This means that you can quickly go back to the Explanation section for review while you are answering an item, and then back to the item again without losing the work that you have done. Each exercise is presented as a list of items. All the usual KeySoft commands are available to move through the list and to enter and edit your responses. Details on how to make and edit entries are explained in the following sections. To move forward an item when you are not making an entry, you can press SPACE, use the ADVANCE thumb key, press ENTER or SPACE with dot 4 (BT), or READ with O, or DOWN ARROW (QT). Similarly, to move back an item you can press BACKSPACE, use the BACK thumb key, or press SPACE with dot 1 (BT), or READ with U, or UP ARROW (QT). 4.2.1 Reading Exercises The Reading exercises provide practice reading Nemeth code. You read the symbols on the display, then check that you have read them correctly by getting KeySoft to say the correct answer. To get to the Reading Exercise for a lesson: 1. Go to the "Activity Menu" of the lesson that you want to do the Reading Exercise for. 2. Select "Reading Exercises" from the "Activity Menu". You are instructed to "Read each item and compare your response to the spoken prompt". 3. Display the braille prompt for the first item by pressing SPACE. Read the braille and say it to yourself. When you are ready to hear the correct answer, press SPACE with I (BT), or CONTROL with READ with I (QT). 4. Press ENTER to go to the next item. Remember, you can review the Explanation section at any time. To do this: 1. Press EXIT to go back to the "Activity Menu". 2. Select the Explanation option. 3. When you want to return to where you were in the Reading Exercises, press EXIT to go to the "Activity Menu". 4. Select Reading Exercises and you will be returned to the last item you were on. 4.2.2 Writing Exercises For the writing exercises, you braille what is spoken. They provide practice in Brailling the Nemeth Symbols. To get to the Writing Exercises for a lesson: 1. Go to the "Activity menu" of the lesson that you want to do the Writing Exercises for. 2. Select "Writing Exercises" from the "Activity Menu". 3. You will hear a message telling you to "braille the following exactly as spoken." 4. Press SPACE to listen to the first item to be brailled. 5. Listen to the item, and then enter it in braille, exactly as it is said. While you are entering your answer, you can review the item to be brailled by hearing it all again or listening to it one word at a time. The commands to do this are listed below, however you should note that unlike elsewhere in KeySoft, where these commands read and move the cursor in your entry, here they review what you should be typing, not what you are actually typing. Hear the whole item again: SPACE with dots 1-4 (BT), or READ with I (QT). Hear the next word: SPACE with dot 5 (BT), or READ with L (QT). Hear the previous word: SPACE with dot 2 (BT), or READ with J (QT). Repeat the current word: SPACE with dots 2-5 (BT), or READ with K (QT). (To spell the current word, press the repeat current word command twice). To abandon your current entry and start again, press SPACE with R (BT), or REPEAT (QT). Apart from the special commands above, all the usual KeySoft commands for editing at a prompt are available, including the cursor routing buttons and the character by character movement commands. 6. When you have brailled your response and you are happy with it, press ENTER to have your answer evaluated by KeySoft. If there are errors, an error message is displayed. Once you have read this, your answer is restored to the braille display with the cursor positioned on the first error. You can now edit your response and have it reevaluated, by pressing ENTER. If the answer is correct, a message will be displayed to tell you that it is correct and the next item will be spoken. If you are stuck on an answer, and want to display the correct answer, press SPACE with I (BT), or, CONTROL with READ with I (QT). You don't have to answer an item in an exercise before moving to the next item. You can use SPACE and BACKSPACE to move between unanswered items. It is only if you press ENTER that your entry will be evaluated and you will be given a response. 4.2.3 Proofreading Exercises The Proofreading Exercises present items with braille errors, but they are spoken correctly. You have to correct the braille using the standard KeySoft editing commands. To do the Proofreading Exercises for a lesson: 1. Go to the "Activity menu" of the lesson that you want to do the Proofreading Exercises for. 2. Select "Proofreading Exercises" from the "Activity Menu", and press ENTER. 3. You will hear a message telling you to "Read and correct the following braille." 4. Press SPACE to hear the first item to be proofread and be presented with the incorrect braille. While you are correcting the braille, you can listen again to what the braille should display by hearing it all again, or listening to it one word at a time. The commands to do this are listed below, however you should note that unlike elsewhere in KeySoft, where these commands read and move the cursor in your entry, here they review what the braille should be, not what it actually is. Hear the whole item again: SPACE with dots 1-4 (BT), or READ with I (QT). Hear the next word: SPACE with dot 5 (BT), or READ with L (QT). Hear the previous word: SPACE with dot 2 (BT), or READ with J (QT). Repeat the current word: SPACE with dots 2-5 (BT), or READ with K (QT). (To spell the current word, press the repeat current word command twice). To abandon your current entry and start again, press SPACE with R (BT), or REPEAT (QT). Apart from the special commands above, all the usual KeySoft commands for editing at a prompt are available. When you find an error, bring the cursor to the error by pressing the cursor routing button above it. Delete the error using the Delete character command, BACKSPACE with dots 3-6 (BT), or CONTROL with COMMA (QT) and type in the correct braille. 5. When you have corrected the braille, press ENTER to have your answer evaluated by KeySoft. If there are errors, an error message is displayed. Once you have read this your answer is restored to the braille display with the cursor positioned on the first error. You can now edit your response and have it reevaluated by pressing ENTER. If your braille is correct, a message is displayed to tell you that it is correct and the next item is displayed. If you are stuck, and want to display the corrected braille, press SPACE with I (BT), or CONTROL with READ with I (QT). When you have read the correct braille, you are returned to the item. You don't have to answer each item before moving to the next item. You can use SPACE and BACKSPACE to move between unanswered items. If you press ENTER, then your entry will be evaluated and you will be given a response. 5 Selecting Another Lesson If you want to select another Lesson when you have finished the lesson that you have been working through, press EXIT to return to the Lessons list. Use the standard KeySoft commands to select another lesson. 6 Using a Visual Display While you cannot use the tutorial visually, the visual display can be useful when assisting a student. You can use the Video Card accessory or the Remote Visual Display option with the Nemeth Tutorial. If you are using the Remote Visual Display option (not the Video Card accessory), and you find that signs like the degrees sign show incorrectly, change the Visual Display Code Page setting to the other option. This setting is in the Miscellaneous options in the Utilities Menu. The setting that you require depends on the settings in your visual display. Note: Not all Maths is displayed using the usual symbols and layout, and in the writing and proofreading exercises where there are mistakes, the display is effectively useless! 7 Removing the Nemeth Tutorial from your BrailleNote You can delete and reinstall the Nemeth Tutorial from your BrailleNote at any time. For example, you may want to remove it because you no longer need it, or because you need the space that it takes up on the Flash Disk. To delete the Nemeth Tutorial, use the File Manager to delete the Nemeth Tutorial folder from your Flash Disk. 8 Appendix Chapter and Lesson Lists 1 Braille Numbers and Basic Indicators 1.1 The numeric indicator 1.2 The mathematical comma 1.3 The comma in lists or series 1.4 Mathematical comma, dot six, used as a mark of punctuation 1.5 The punctuation indicator, dots four five six 2 Plus, Minus, and Equals Sign 2.1 Signs of operation and signs of comparison 2.2 Directed (signed) numerals 2.3 The equals sign 2.4 Punctuation used with equals sign 3 Decimal Point and Related Symbols 3.1 The Decimal Point 3.2 The multipurpose indicator 3.3 Monetary signs: dollar, pound sterling, cent 3.4 Percent sign 3.5 Symbols used to indicate degree 3.6 Symbols used to indicate minutes, seconds, feet, inches, prime, and double prime 3.7 Signs showing omitted symbols 3.8 Infinity and null 4 Multiplication Signs 4.1 Multiplication cross 4.2 Multiplication dot 4.3 Mathematical parentheses, signs of grouping 5 Division and Fraction Signs 5.1 The divided-by sign 5.2 Curved and straight division signs 5.3 Fractions 5.4 Mixed number indicators 5.5 Other uses of the slash 6 Spatial Arrangements 6.1 Spatial arrangements for addition and subtraction 6.2 Addition and subtraction with fractions 6.3 Addition problems with regrouping (carrying) 6.4 Subtraction problems with regrouping (borrowing) 6.5 Multiplication 6.6 Long division 6.7 Long division with additional elements 7 Roman Numerals and Odds and Ends 7.1 Roman numerals 7.2 Roman numerals in a mathematical context 7.3 Abbreviations 7.4 Function names 7.5 Plural, possessive, and ordinal endings, and contractions adjacent to mathematical symbols 7.6 Contractions and short-form words 7.7 Special symbols 8 More Signs of Operation 8.1 Signs of operation: plus or minus, minus or plus, and horizontally joined plus and minus 8.2 Radical (also known as root) 8.3 Factorial, union, intersection, and hollow dot 8.4 Asterisk 9 Use of Letters, Symbols, and Numbers 9.1 The use of letters, symbols and numbers 9.2 Letters not used in mathematical expressions 9.3 Specialized alphabets 10 Signs of Grouping 10.1 Signs of grouping 10.2 Signs of grouping: spacing, plural endings, and parts of words 10.3 Signs of grouping: brackets 10.4 Signs of grouping: enlarged brackets 10.5 Signs of grouping: braces 10.6 Signs of grouping: vertical bars 11 More Signs of Comparison 11.1 Signs of comparison: not equal, approximately equal, identity, similar to, and congruent to 11.2 Signs of comparison: ratios, inequalities, set notation, and vertical bars 12 Level Indicators 12.1 Level indicators 12.2 Level indicators: multiple levels, fractions, grouping symbols, negative exponents, left positioned, and punctuation 12.3 Level indicators: subscripts 12.4 Level indicators: non-decimal bases and combined superscript and subscript indicators 12.5 Level indicators: Spatial arrangements 12.6 Level indicators in matrices and determinants 13 More Radicals and Groups 13.1 Index of radicals 13.2 Nested radicals 13.3 Radicals: Division, fractions, superscripts and subscripts 14 The Shape Indicator 14.1 Signs of shape: shape indicator, two-celled shape symbols, spacing and punctuation. 14.2 Signs of shape: level indicators, English letter indicator, as signs of omission, and identified shape symbols 14.3 Signs of shape: shaded and filled-in, positioning, star as a reference 14.4 Signs of shape: arrows 14.5 Signs of shape: structural modification, interior modification 15 Different Type Forms 15.1 Type-form indicators with numbers 15.2 Type-form indicators with letters 15.3 Type-form indicators with labeled mathematical statements, words, and phrases 16 Formats for Geometric Proofs 16.1 Formats for geometric proofs 17 Fractions: Complex and Hypercomplex 17.1 Complex fractions 17.2 Hypercomplex fractions 17.3 Spatial arrangement of fractions for cancellation 18 Integrals, Sigma Notation, and Limits 18.1 Sigma notation 18.2 Limits 18.3 Integrals and partial derivatives 9 Acknowledgements and Credits The developers of the content of the tutorial are Gaylen Kapperman and Jodi Sticken of Research and Development Institute of Sycamore, Illinois (USA). Research and Development Institute P. O. Box 351 Sycamore, IL 60178 U.S.A. 815-895-3078 Gaylen Kapperman gkapperman@niu.edu Jodi Sticken jsticken@niu.edu We are indebted to Julie Hart, the project assistant, who devoted many hours in editing the content. Without her invaluable assistance, this work could not have been completed. Others who assisted in editing were Douglas Anzlovar, Gretchen Kapperman , April Love, Naomi Read, and Linda Stanish. The content of this tutorial is based partially on previous work completed by Mario Cortesi. The funds which supported, in part, the development of the Nemeth Code tutorial emanated from a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (grant no. H327A0500193). Any opinions, judgments, or assertions included in the content of this software do not reflect those of the U.S. Department of Education. They are solely those of the authors of the content and should not be construed as being endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education or any of its staff. 4 1