[UEB Maths] words needed for Darleen

[Phyllis Landon]

Thanks for getting this done so quickly Janet.

In your list of options under B,  there are two matters.  First, I think Joe
suggested that the dash be included as well as the hyphen just to provide
consistency with other rules, such as "standing alone".  Second,  I'm sure
you just mistyped inadvertently but option 2 should read "... terminated by
a hyphen or dash AS WELL AS a space" and option 4 should read "...
terminated by a hyphen or dash AS WELL AS a space ..."

Phyllis
  -----Original Message-----
  From: uebmaths-bounces at nbp.org [mailto:uebmaths-bounces at nbp.org]On Behalf
Of Janet Reynolds
  Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 11:03 PM
  To: UEB Maths
  Subject: [UEB Maths] words needed for Darleen


  It was good to hear that everyone got home safely. Many thanks to everyone
for your input during those three and a half days, I never thought we would
achieve as much as we did.



  I have had an email from Darleen asking me to forward any suggested code
changes emerging from the Maths meeting as soon as possible so that they can
be forwarded to the Overarching committee. This should also include any
other decisions that will affect the Rules Committee.



  I have done a rough first draft below for the two questions we had noted,
but I think we need to add to this the key decisions that were made in the
Chemistry and Computer Notation areas as they may also have implications
outside those areas. Stephen, could you send me the key words around
capitalisation that you discussed with Phyllis. And Joe, could you send me
the words around when program fragments should be uncontracted and the
implications for the use of contractions within email addresses and url's.



  Once we have the key things passed to Darleen, I will write up the rest of
the minutes, which will be fairly brief as we agreed. I also have an ongoing
worry about the use of dots 346 as an omission symbol but I will raise that
in a separate email.



  Here are the words I have so far for Darleen:

  Janet



  The UEB Maths group met from 6-9 March in New Zealand. The main focus was
on the drafting of guidelines for Chemistry and Computer Notation and the
incorporation of feedback received on the draft of "Mathematical Guidelines"
. It was decided that the new chapters would be incorporated into that
document and that it could be renamed "Guidelines for Technical Material".
Most of the feedback was around mathematical material for young learners and
this will be incorporated into the draft document by adding extra examples
and clarification in certain areas.



  Two code issues were raised that need consideration by the Overarching
Committee:



    1.. That a symbol should be assigned for tally marks. In print these are
vertical marks used for counting. Each group of 5 is shown by 4 vertical
lines with a diagonal line through the group. It was agreed that individual
tally marks should be represented by dots 456 in braille (which is already
defined as a vertical line segment) and that a group of 5 should be 456,
456, 456, 456, 25 to represent four marks and the diagonal. The symbol 456,
25 has not yet been assigned so this would now need assigning as "tally mark
with strike through".


    2.. That the rules be revisited around the termination of grade 1 mode
when it is initiated by numeric mode. Feedback has been received about the
current treatment when a number is joined by a hyphen to a word. The example
currently in the rules is 3-dimensional. With the current rules this is
written without the en and sion contractions unless a grade 1 terminator is
inserted. Feedback indicates that there are many common words affected by
this such as 3-bed room, 4-day conference, 4-tier cake, 3-wheeled bike. The
question to the Maths group was whether it would cause complications for the
brailling of mathematics if this rule was re-addressed. Five options were
considered:


    1.. Not have numeric mode set grade 1 mode.
    2.. Grade 1 mode, when initiated by numeric mode, would be terminated by
a hyphen instead of a space.
    3.. Grade 1 mode, when initiated by numeric mode, would be terminated by
a hyphen if the hyphen immediately follows a number.
    4.. All grade 1 mode would be terminated by a hyphen instead of a space,
however it was initiated.
    5.. No change.


  Looking at this from a mathematical point of view it was felt that option
1 would create problems in algebra, where the current rule has been working
well. It was felt that options 2, 3 and 4 would only cause problems
mathematically in subtraction expressions, and then only if the subtraction
sign was represented by a hyphen. For example the algebraic expression 5
minus ab would be fine if the subtraction sign was represented by dot 5, 36
as recommended in the Mathematical Guidelines, but would need a grade 1
indicator before the ab if only the hyphen was used, which could happen if
it occurred in a literary context without intervention.



  There was discussion around readability of expressions like 3-bed room.
All five of the maths group preferred these contracted and felt that this
would be worth revisiting, with the first preference being for option 4 and
the second for option 3. However it was acknowledged that the consistency of
other rules around hyphens and terminators would need to be taken into
account by the overarching committee.








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