Using Your Computer for Maths

The following was prepared by Deb Lewis, Co-ordinator, Statewide Vision Resource Centre. Have you considered your students working on their computers for mathematics (or other subjects)? One method (for PC) is described below. By tiling your windows horizontally or vertically, you can easily move from one program to another – with the click of your computer mouse or by clicking Alt and Tab.

You will need:

Your text book on CD-ROM. Several publishers are now marketing their texts on CD-ROM and the price tends to be less than the print version (eg Heinemann texts are available from their customer service department for about 85% of the price of the print edition – tel: 1800 810372). Typically they are presented as a pdf file, accessible via Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this program on your computer already, you can download it from www.adobe.com or www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html/.

A Maths program eg Equation Editor. Equation Editor was already loaded onto my computer (as part of Windows) and I located it by typing ‘equation’ into my ‘Find’ window, then double clicking on the resulting folder. (You might then like to make a shortcut to the program so that it can be located easily.) If it is not available on your computer, you’ll need to install it from your Windows disk.

A graphing program such as Capgraph, Graphmatica or Excel – optional.

Word or some other word processing program – optional.

The steps:

Open your text book and your maths program (and your word processing and graphing program if you would like to use it too). It is better if you shut all other programs and windows before you do this.
Right click (click the right mouse button) on a blank part of the Task Bar (the bar which contains the Start button – often found at the bottom of the screen) and choose ‘Tile Windows Horizontally’ or ‘Tile Windows Vertically’. Experiment with your student – students may prefer the horizontal arrangement.

Setting up the screen in the above manner allows you to simultaneously view your text book and write your answer to the question in Equation Editor, utilising the many mathematical symbols in the pull-down menus. The mathematical symbols may also be accessed through key commands. You can also write text answers in Equation Editor by going into Text mode, located under the Style menu.
Once students become familiar with using their maths text and Equation Editor, they may with to try running a graphing program such as Excel and/or Word simultaneously in the same manner.

Access for low vision users

Your student may be using enlarging or voice output software to access these programs. They may also wish to consider the built-in features described below.

Use the Minimize/Maximize/Restore buttons (top right) to toggle between the tiled (horizontally or vertically) screens and a full screen view. The full screen view allows the student a greater field of view which may be useful for diagrams, graphs etc.

Adobe Acrobat Reader (Text Book)

Choose a suitable print size using the pull-down percentage button – select 12.5% to 1600% or type in your own choice in the space and then press Enter.
Zoom in or out using these functions under the View menu or via the magnifier on the Toolbar.
Select Full Screen under the View menu and right click to increase the print size and then to move down the page. Press Esc to return to normal view.
Select the Zoom In tool from the View menu and click the magnifier icon over selected text to enlarge. This action can be repeated for even closer viewing.
The thumbnails (located on the left had side of the screen) are used to navigate around the page. If you don’t need this, drag the edge of this window further to the left to increase your field of view.

Equation Editor

Under the View menu select 100%, 200%, 400%.
Also under the View menu choose Zoom and select 100%, 200%, 400% or check Customise and type in any font size.
Select a suitable font size – choose Other under the Size menu and type in your chosen font size.
Manually adjust the sizes for the various mathematical components – main number, sub/superscripts, sub- sub/superscripts, symbol and sub symbols – go to Define in the Size menu.
Use Key Commands to select different size, style, format etc.
Adjust the spacing between lines – choose Spacing under the Format menu

Your student may wish to Cut and Paste your responses from Equation Editor into Word, although they will appear in a graphics box in Word and therefore cannot be edited easily.

Producing graphs with your computer

Use one of a number of graphing options to perform graphing functions on your computer. Examples of graphing programs include:

Excel, part of Microsoft Office normally found on PCs, can be used to graph basic functions and operates via mouse or key commands. It has adjustable scale, colours, font size, and font type; and will zoom (magnify) up to 400%.
Capgraph also produces graphs from equations. It is available from the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers for $150. Tel (08) 8363 0288.
Graphmatica is an equation plotter which offers several colours and a zoom function. It may be downloaded from the internet for US$30 from www8.pair.com/ksoft/.

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Web page editor Lyn Robinson. Last updated March 2001.
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