Tactile Spatial Math - DotsPlus®
For those having difficulties with traditional Braille math, many find DotsPlus® to be a
great alternative.
Spatial Braille math (Braille math that adopts the same structure as visual math) can
be taught by anyone regardless of their knowledge of Braille, or lack thereof.
Anyone using mainstream Windows software can create 100% accurate Braille math in
minutes. Even use pre-existing math documents.
DotsPlus® is a tactile font that displays in visual print form on a computer screen or
document printed in ink. Use DotsPlus® to print spatial math, or anything else from a
computer screen.
DotsPlus® as it appears visually
on the computer screen and on a
printed page.
DotsPlus® as it appears in Tiger®
Viewer to be embossed on the
ViewPlus Braille Embosser.
Contact ViewPlus General Information for more information about DotsPlus®
and samples.
DotsPlus® can adapt to the sensory
modality of the user - touch, audio,
or visual.
MathType is the professional version of the equation editor made by
Design Science, Inc. bundled with MS Word. It is widely used by sighted
scientists, engineers, and educators to author documents that include
equations.
MathType users can choose one of several styles, and ViewPlus
Technologies provides three additional styles intended for printing on
Tiger. The files and instructions for installation into MathType are
included in the Tiger MathType directory on the Tiger Software Suite
installation CD. Alternatively, users can download the MathType Tiger
Style Package from our download page (*first signup for free membership
to access this and other Tiger help files).
By choosing Tiger®, Tiger® Expert or Tiger® Euro style in
MathType, you can easily author equations that will print properly in
DotsPlus®, DotsPlus® Expert or Tiger® Euro respectively on the Tiger.
It is also easy to convert equations in existing documents to a Tiger®
style, by simply selecting the desired style and clicking the equation
open and close afterwards.
We recommend the use of MathType for anybody who needs to
make equations for Braille readers. With MathType even faculty members,
teaching assistants, or student workers who know nothing about Braille
can author or convert extremely complex scientific documents that can
be embossed on the Tiger. Any Braille reader willing to take the few
minutes necessary to learn DotsPlus®, will be able to read those
documents.
Currently, MathType is only accessible to sighted users, and
there are no commercial math authoring programs that are easily usable
by blind people. We anticipate, that in the near future, accessible
math authoring programs will become available . The WinTriangle
scientific word processor now available in beta form from the Oregon
State University Science Access Project can be used by blind people to
author math equations in a linear format that is readable by sighted
people and can be printed on Tiger®.
Getting MathType™
MathType™ can be
purchased online from Design Science
Tiger® Environment
Download the Tiger Environment
for MathType from ViewPlus