In message  <004401bf2e0a$a54cfce0$067ec897@oemcomputer>
                  Trisha Cummings <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Anee,
>
>            When I was talking about being reasonable I was
> being tongue in cheek to a certain degree. I employ sarcasm and
> humor to make points. There are times they work well, in
> gettings ones point across. All of us are reasonable and
> unreasonable on some issues and to some people.
>

> > My problems in math are largly visual...and because my
> > writing is so bad that usualy dosn;t help things and the
> > adding machines only have so many functions on them.  But the
> > main problem is visual.  I can get by with basic algebra no
> > problem.
> >
> > In geomatry (which is the largest problem...even advanced
> > algebra were you are dealing with graphs and things) I got
> > the entire book enlarged to 11x17 paper and when ever there
> > were diagrams or you had to reason with shaps I would draw
> > them out using collored pincles so I could mark each edge
> > with a diffring color but they would still move all around on
> > me so that looking at them it looked like they were shifting
> > possision and would make me dizzy. Even though I would ask
> > the teacher for help and go to tutering practicly every day
> > they did not understand what the problem was and so wernt
> > that healpful because they would tell me to do such and
> > such...and for me that changes all the time.  I could never
> > figrue out which measurement I was spose to use becasue first
> > the thing would appear to be standing tall and narrow in a
> > vertical orientation and then it would appea to be short and
> > wide in a more horizontal orintation so do I use the measures
> > when it is tall and narrow or short and wide, and some times
> > you have to use the measures in the correct order to get the
> > proper answer.
> >
> > This is a problem with all triangles, 3-d any thing, and 2-d
> > straight lines that  intersecting, even some of the more
> > coplicated 2-d figures like a polygon with lines dran through
> > them or shapes drawn inn them (I usualy nuber the points to
> > try and create some refrence but it's very easy for me to get
> > lost in this).
> >
> > Unforchnutly I have yet to find a type of therapy or medicine
> > or other remedy to fix this problem.  Any ideas that I
> > haven;t tried from the "never reasnoble" person(s) would be
> > appreciated?
> >


>     The never reasonable person wonders how geometry is taught
> to the blind.
>
>                                   Trisha

Anee is describing "spatial awareness" problems. In extreme
cases this prevents the brain recognising shapes that we have no
problem at all with. One boy at my school, who in all other
respects had a mild case of CP, had practically nonexistent
spatial awareness, he would quite happily stick half his foot
over an 8 inch kerb because it looked quite flat to him.

If you showed him a line drawing of a triangle he could not tell
you what "shape" it was. To him they were just lines, he did not
even realise they intersected at all. (He ended up as an English
Teacher in a Roman Catholic School nevertheless).

This problem is a considerable hurdle to someone learning
geometry, but affects most branches of mathematics to some degree
(many areas of mathematics are simplified by visualising the
problem).

Many blind people have superb spatial awareness, once the concept
of converting a raised line in a braille maths book to a picture
in the mind, geometric principals can then be grasped.

One of my favourite jokes is based on Pythagorean principles (and
I apologise in advance if you've all "heard" it before - I
suspect it is the favourite joke of all Maths Teachers).

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A red indian chief has three wives who share his tepee. To the
first (Little Deer) he gives a skin of the softest roe deer. To
the second (Fighting Elk) he gives a pure white skin of an albino
Elk.

His favourite wife (Mini Ha Ha) receives a Hippopotamus hide
which he buys from a French trader. The chief sleeps with each
squaw on different nights, but because Mini Ha Ha is his
favourite he always sleeps with her every other night and then
alternates between the other two on days in between.

Little Deer and Fighting Elk become quite jealous of this
favouritism and complain to the Medicine Man, who at the next
tribal meeting asks the chief to explain why he didn't treat all
his wives the same.

The chief says "I thought everyone knew that the squaw on the
hippopotamus is equal to the sum of the squaws on the other two
hides"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Oh dear (but I bet you won't forget Pythagoras's Theorem again).

Cheers,

--
Deri James