Cross multiplication — symbol?
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This question came up on a braille board today.
A "symbol" for cross multiplying is used on a worksheet. It looks like a northeast arrow crossed with a northwest arrow, but it is used like an mathematical operation for cross multiplying. Attaching the print, voiced problem: fraction 1 over 4a end fraction (cross multiply symbol) fraction 9 over 2 end fraction.
The symbol isn't on a list, but then again, it isn't on a mathematical list at all. It's a made-up symbol. So, should it be a transcriber defined symbol or a graphic, or is there really a symbol in braille that corresponds to this one. Incidentally, there are other similar symbols that represent cross multiplication with arrows down or other directional difference. So, if doing a transcriber defined symbol, there would likely be more than one.
Thank you for the question!
You're right that the symbol you are asking about is not given a braille symbol in the UEB Guidelines for Technical Material.
Possibly an intuitive transcriber-defined shape symbol (e.g., @$cross) could work for this cross-multiplication symbol. If it appears frequently, assigning one of the transcriber-defined symbols may be advisable. [Our brief webinar "UEB Technical - Underlying Rules and Print Symbols," at time 12:40, touches on transcriber-defined shapes and symbols.]
Regardless of whether you use a transcriber-defined shape (GTM 14.2) or transcriber-defined symbol (GTM 11.2), your description of the print sign is an excellent starting point. (Considering the other uses of this sign, would it be appropriate to include in its description the equals sign which appears to be printed "underneath" the cross-multiply sign we're discussing?) In a perfect world, we would even provide the student with a tactile graphic representation of the crossed arrows (in addition to an excellent description).
–Kyle
Kyle:
Thank you so very much! This is what I wrote to the transcriber prior to posting the question on the board:
As far as I can see, the perceived "cross multiplying symbol" is a graphic. If you put an equals sign and instruct students to cross multiply, as long as they have had instruction in this method, they know what to do. If you see this a lot, I would use a transcriber defined symbol. Could get tricky, though, cause those arrows change direction.
My first thought was to use graphic tape with the description underneath an equals sign--and that was before you told me the equals sign was there! I didn't see it at all!
But, both expediency and logic held me back from saying that. If there are a lot of those, that could get old fast. It would also change the linear math to spatial math. Spatial display is a lot for a student to go through to get to the math and keep up in class. But, if it were a teaching method that is being demonstrated just a few times, I'd definitely go for a graphic. Welcome to my idealistic perfect world where we have all the time we need!
Love the idea of the transcriber defined (shape sign "cross"), but I noticed in my research that these cross multiplying symbols change directions. There are also cross multiplying down arrows and side arrows, etc., so I was wondering if I could incorporate the two directional arrows somehow.
A transcriber defined symbol... What about something like this: ⠆⠳⠜⠻⠳⠣ . It's on the line with something I found in the Technical Update manual at CNIB ⇄ with two arrows going opposite horizontal directions, in the same "combined" symbol, transcribed like this: ⠆⠳⠕⠻⠳⠪ . This way the symbol could be changed easily if the directions of the arrows changed.
⠨⠿⠳⠎ ↗ simple up and right pointing arrow (northeast)
⠨⠿⠳⠣ ↘ simple down and right pointing arrow (southeast)
⠨⠿⠳⠱ ↖ simple up and left pointing arrow (northwest)
⠨⠿⠳⠜ ↙ simple down and left pointing arrow (southwest)What do you think? Oh, and let me know if the braille showed up in the body of the question. New toy at Branah.com. Had to trick it to come up with the braille though---it didn't work with ascii.
Jill
Yes, the Unicode Braille Patterns you got from Branah.com do look good. I use these sometimes when communicating with sighted colleagues via email. Just remember that Unicode Braille Patterns are hardly accessible at all; screen readers usually do not know what to do with them and so do not mention them at all. Pairing Unicode Braille Patterns with ASCII braille is ⠃⠑⠌⠀⠏⠗⠁⠉⠞⠊⠉⠑ (ASCII [with this thread's braille font applied]: be/ practice).
Oh-so-belatedly, please let me say that I truly admire your analysis of the print sign that is constructed of arrows!
–Kyle
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