Visual Aid Volunteers of Florida, Inc.

Is it an impossible task (an “empty set”) to transcribe math and science using UEB? No!

The UEB Guidelines for Technical Material (GTM) gives us a large assortment of symbols that correspond closely with print math notation. So, you “plus” UEB Math/Science can definitely “equal” Success!

,Y\"6,,ueb ,ma?_/,sci;e "7 ,su3ess6

The line above was created by applying a braille font (specifically “Braille from Braille2000”) to print characters that have been assigned specific braille cell configurations by an international group of computer language experts. My colleague William and I talked about this process of making “braille for looking at” in our webinar How Braille Works Electronically, which is available on APH’s YouTube channel. We even talked about why sometimes you get “ or ’ instead of " (dot 5) or ' (dot 3) and how to fix that!

But what does that line above actually say? It is reproduced below.

,y\"6,,ueb ,ma?_/,sci;e "7 ,su3ess6

It says: You+UEB Math/Science = Success!

The plus sign is "6 (5, 235), and the equals sign is "7 (5, 2356) (see the 2018 version of GTM Section 3). The “You” alphabetic wordsign is not used, because the word “You” is not standing alone (RUEB §§10.1.1 and 2.6.1). This is a good illustration of how Rules of UEB (RUEB) and GTM are not separate codes; their rules and guidelines build on and reinforce one another.

What is this “UEB Math/Science” talk? Why not just say “GTM” or “UEB Technical”?

“UEB Math/Science” is the term that BANA recommends in their position statement “Terminology: UEB Math/Science and UEB with Nemeth.” The term is meant to be clear, concise, and consistent with the other recommended term: “UEB with Nemeth.” The position statement linked above is only three print pages long and well worth a read. (Should I admit here that I am a member of the committee that wrote the document? No? Okay, I won’t.)

That’s enough terminology and theoretical code discussion. Let’s look at a braille example.

;;;,.s.5<k"7#j>.9<n"-#a>"<a"6kd"> "7 (n./#b)"<#b;a"6"<n"-#a">d">;'

• A grade 1 passage is used to keep interruptions to a minimum within the expression.
• The capital Greek Sigma – ,.s (6, 46, 234) – has “k=0” directly below it – .5 (46, 26) – and “n−1” directly above it – .9 (RUEB §4.5 and GTM §7.9).
• In the expressions directly below and above the Sigma, we chose to unspace the comparison signs, because they are not on the base line. §1.1.3 in the GTM tells us that we may do this.
• “k=0” is enclosed in braille grouping indicators – < (126) and > (345) – so that the effect of the directly below indicator will apply to the whole expression. The same thing is done for “n−1” (GTM §7.1). Essentially, the braille grouping indicators make each expression into an “item.”
• The whole equation won’t fit on a single braille line, so it is divided before a baseline comparison sign.
• The fraction “n-over-2” includes something other than digits, decimal points, commas, and separator spaces, so it is transcribed by employing the general fraction indicators – ( (12356) and ) (23456) – (GTM §6.4).
• A grade 1 symbol indicator must be used when transcribing “2a” so that the “a” cannot be misread as a number 1.

I think that was fun! And I hope it leaves you wanting more UEB Math/Science. If so …

Braille Refresher questions often include the use of UEB for math or science. Braille Refreshers are one-question quizzes created in SurveyMonkey. They’re emailed out once a week. To sign up, send your name, email address, and title (e.g., transcriber, TVI, parent, etc.) to BrailleImprovement@aph.org. Try this sample question: Math True or False!

If you feel like getting hands-on to practice braille, the Mathematics Programs from UEBOnline are excellent online resources that give instant feedback.

For [even] more on UEB Math/Science, I invite you to get a glass of something and check out the APH webinar UEB Math/Science: Frozen Juice Concentrate. (The handout for the webinar is available from the APH Access Academy Handouts page.)