Archive for the ‘Equations Online’ Category
Typeset Math Easily on a Computer
February 26th, 2008
Today, a student would use a word processor, adjusting the sentence with each change. That process would look something like this.
English instructors have managed to adjust to not seeing every step of every revision – settling, in most cases, for one or two drafts before a final paper. A parallel situation for us in math might be a short recorded video of the procedures, layered on top of each other, or a few steps of a complicated problem, worked out on screen with a computer program.
Now… TRUE … you can’t do this with LaTex. Sidenote: Why on earth is everyone trying to do this with LaTex? It would be like writing every email you send in HTML or doing all your word processing in DOS. In version 6 of MathType, you can export any equation to LaTex if you need it for a webpage, blog, or Journal article.
Now let’s look at math. We’ve mostly stuck to the “write out every step method,” because we want to see HOW students are doing the problem from step to step … and I understand that. However, we can still see a rough outline of the procedure if we see a few steps in the procedure.
Perhaps one of the reasons why students are so hesitant to “write out every step” of every problem is that we are asking them to work in a way that is counter-intuitive to the computer age. When we “add 3 to both sides of the equation,” it may be seen as nothing more than a correction to the equation – parallel to the example of moving “in 1984″ to the beginning of the sentence instead of the end.
To prove that you can typeset math pretty easily on a computer, I took Jason’s problem and recorded my own version using MathType and a voice over. As the instructor, this would be the example I provide for students – and rather than just a text version of the worked out solution, I would provide the video example. Actually, with a little practice, there’s no reason why you couldn’t record these live (although even I will admit that it’s easier to record live examples using a tablet PC).
Note that at the end of the example, I can still publish a list of steps (produced as I created the recording). Maybe it would be beneficial to have the students explain, in their own words, how I
If I were a student doing the problem, here’s what it might look like (without pencil and paper).
The student might submit just a few steps as their work, like this:
If you want to have the arrows, diagrams, equations, and everything else in a layout space that is easy to edit, you can do all of that in PowerPoint. Start with a BLANK LAYOUT so there is no preset formatting. This makes the slide essentially like a whiteboard space. Insert equations … move them where you want them … resize them … add arrows … text … and whatever else you want!
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- Open and Close MathType Equations Quickly
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Nudging Text in MathType
February 23rd, 2008
Here’s where I have to admit that I used MathType for YEARS before I learned this little tip. However, it’s one of those that I use all the time now that I have learned it.
Have you ever had mathematical text that just didn’t look right? You can actually “nudge” each character to a new position to get it exactly the way you want it to look. While that is helpful, you can also use nudging to overlay some text on top of other text – this can be used to create, among other things, number lines!
Now, I can certainly make beautiful number lines in other programs too, but when I need a quick & dirty number line, there’s no reason why I can’t use MathType to do it. Here’s a little video demo of the nudging technique and a “How to” on making a number line.
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Welcoming a new blog to the math-blogosphere
January 27th, 2008
Given all of our recent discussions in the comment threads about math accessibility, this seemed like a good blog to pass along to my readers.
Design Science has launched a blog called Making Math Accessible. I’m sure that their expertise will be of great benefit when we find ourselves teaching students with disabilities.
I shoud also mention, in case anybody is interested, that Design Science also just launched a Design Science News Blog, which might also be of interest to some of you.
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A MATH reader for Blind Students
January 17th, 2008
You can download the MathPlayer (free) on the Design Science website and play with it yourself. The voice is pretty mechanical-sounding, but Bob told me that if the listener has paid for an upgraded voice, it is pretty realistic.
Our college paid thousands of dollars to have a math book printed in braille last year for a blind student. With all the materials available on the Internet, we might have been able to use MathPlayer and JAWS to read the notes from one of the free online sites. There is also a possibility that the “read aloud” option may be available to read a book file provided by the publisher in the future. Wouldn’t that be cool?
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MathType Tips from the Webinar
November 28th, 2007
Here is a short video demonstration with a few of the tidbits about MathType I picked up from the Design Science Webinar from Bob Matthews:
- Resizing the view of the MathType buttons
- Quickly changing the zoom of text without having to go into menus
- Quickly accessing the color menus
- Quickly changing the style without having to go into menus
I also picked up a few good tricks in PowerPoint, which I will pass along in a separate blog entry.
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Webinar: Using PowerPoint in the Math Classroom
November 17th, 2007
Bob Mathews (from Design Science, who makes MathType) will be conducting an online Webinar called “Using PowerPoint in the Mathematics Classroom” on November 19th from 5 pm EDT (2pm PDT).
Every time up MathType training on the Design Science website, I see this PowerPoint training that Bob does, but it is always at some conference I’m not going to. In this workshop, Bob will show us how to tweak MathType in Powerpoint.
Here’s the registration link for the Webinar: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/241857942
(NOTE: The phone call is not a toll-free number… so plan accordingly… I will hold my session in our college CTL and invite other math faculty to attend.)
See ya in cyberspace at the Webinar! : ) Maria
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MathType Cool Chemistry palette and more
November 1st, 2007
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How to create the Ctrl+E hotkeys for MathType equations in XP
October 27th, 2007
Last year I created a six-lesson series for learning how to use MathType better, faster, more efficiently.
This is Lesson 1: Creating the Ctrl-E hotkeys to open and close MathType with a keyboard shortcut. This is on Windows XP with Office 2003.
This is something you only have to set up once on your computer. Once you’ve got the macros and hotkeys built, it’s done and you can use it until you have a computer crash or get a new computer.
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How to create the Ctrl+E hotkey for opening MathType in Vista
October 27th, 2007
I use a hotkey to open new equations when I am typing in Word. The hotkey I use is Ctrl+E (E for equation). This will be fine for you too as long as you don’t already use it for it’s assigned purpose, which is centering paragraphs.
This means that as you are typing a document… like a test, worksheet, handout, etc. you do not have to reach for your mouse to open an equation, you just type Ctrl with E and MathType opens automatically.
I have had a few people ask me how to create this hotkey on a machine running Vista and Office 2007. As I am not running Vista yet, my new assistant, Jill (who IS running Vista on her laptop), has created instructions (with screenshots) for creating the Ctrl+E hotkey in Word 2007 in Vista.
NOTE: The first time you use Ctrl+E in any document, it takes a couple seconds… after that it is very quick!
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MathType Shortcuts (basics)
October 11th, 2007
You can become much faster using MathType if you just give in and learn a couple of little shortcuts… then no more reaching for your mouse all the time.
TAB or Arrow Keys will move your cursor around the fields
Ctrl-F for a fraction
Ctrl-R for a radical
Ctrl-H for a high script (superscript)
Ctrl-L for a low script (subscript)
Ctrl-J for both high and low scripts
Ctrl-Space for a Space
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