[UEB Maths] Indicators, functions etc.

[hemcmil]

Hello everyone,

I've been out of action for a while, not Romanian folk dancing 
unfortunately, but all's well again and I've tried to read through all 
your emails.

Starting with the Grade 1 passage indicator:
I've been brailling part of a calculus textbook in UEB and because it 
has so much exercise material I've used the "on a line alone" passage 
indicator often. I know it's long and bulky but I found it very useful 
and from a transcriber's point of view it makes proofreading much 
easier. It's very easy to recognize and I think a braille reader might 
find it easy to "skip" over. Using the 3-cell indicator on a line alone 
might work as well but I really don't like the idea of using blank lines 
or indentation. There is too much conflict with other formats. 
I'm going to send one of the volumes I've completed as soon as I've 
checked it again so you can see where I've used the indicators.

I like the idea of using dots 346 as a contracted  indicator but there 
may be objections from other groups who won't want to add another symbol 
for something already covered.  I haven't heard any comments from anyone 
here concerning the use of the indicators but I'll send out some 
questions and see how it goes.

Re functions:  As Janet has mentioned, the Nemeth code doesn't recognize 
changes in typeform with functions and they are brailled uncontracted 
with a space following. There has never been any difficulties with 
transcribers or, as far as I know, braille readers but I can see there 
may be translation problems.
If this is the case, I would rather use the indicators, dots 16 and dot 
3 to terminate. As long as the dot 3 is not a problem this seems to work 
with all functions.  Learning new symbols or contractions for each 
function would be much more difficult and wouldn't save enough space to 
be very useful.

I would be very careful about suggesting a "math code" at the moment. 
Darleen may not have shot you Joe but she may be taking aim. You might 
be right about the need for a more technical specialty code but it seems 
to defeat everything UEB was meant to do.

I'll be available for a conference call whenever you can get a date for 
all. My telephone number may change but the time zone won't.
Cheers,
Helen