[Athen] Help with Nemeth

[Sean J Keegan]

Hi Susan,

 > The student wants to know if there’s a way
 > to convert her Nemeth answers
 > to questions into text files that she can
 > give to her professor for her homework assignments.

There is an application called Nemetex Nemeth Back-Translator 
(http://www.accessisoft.com/nemetex.htm) that essentially converts 
Nemeth into LaTeX code.  The LaTeX file can then be opened in Scientific 
Notebook (or other TeX application) and then printed for sighted review.

I had a chance to speak with the student who developed the application 
and, while it works, my understanding is that it was not always great 
for higher level math.  Recent updates may have addressed that issue and 
I will see what I can find out.

Here is a flow chart of the process:
http://www.accessisoft.com/flow_chart.htm

I am not aware of any applications that convert Nemeth to just text - 
the central issue is how would the equations then appear?  As LaTeX is 
essentially a typesetting language that allows for the precise display 
of mathematical equations, this may be an option so the student could 
work in Nemeth and then covert the materials into a format for sighted 
review.

As with any conversion applications (particularly when dealing with 
math), I do urge some caution as I am not convinced that everything will 
always be 100% accurate. If you have the opportunity, I would highly 
recommend finding a Nemeth specialist who may be able to assist with the 
accuracy of the materials (I know a few).

We have been doing some math/science formatting for several of our 
students who use Nemeth (and who are also quite familiar with LaTeX 
code, as well).  Overall, it's been good, but I admit that I have a 
*very* close relationship with the 1972 Nemeth Braille Code manual....at 
least when I can understand the rules.


Take care,
Sean

-- 
Sean Keegan, M.S.
Associate Director, Assistive Technology
Office of Accessible Education - Stanford University
http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae