UEB Math Tutorial
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Lesson 1.0: General Principles

Explanation

A general principle of UEB is that each print symbol has one and only one braille equivalent. UEB follows this principle by using the same physical symbol regardless of context (literary or technical). Technical materials in UEB follow the same rules and use the same symbols as non-technical materials.

For the most part, UEB follows print for spacing of symbols. Consistency in spacing should be maintained, particularly when spacing in print is inconsistent. When spacing is used merely for style with technical materials in print, spacing in UEB should reflect the structure of mathematics.

A braille symbol may have a grade 1 meaning and a contracted (grade 2) meaning. Some symbols also have a numeric meaning. The symbol position in relation to other symbols and the mode in effect will determine whether the symbol is read as a grade 1, contracted, or numeric meaning.

The following are essential foundations used in technical materials:

  1. Numeric Mode: The numeric indicator sets numeric mode. Symbols that can appear within numeric mode include the ten digits, comma, period, simple fraction line, line continuation indicator, and numeric space digit symbols. A space or any other symbol not listed here terminates numeric mode. When the letters a through j follow the numeric indicator, they have a numeric meaning of the digits 1-0.
  2. Grade 1 Mode: The numeric indicator also sets grade 1 mode. Grade 1 mode, when initiated by the numeric indicator, is terminated by a space, hyphen, dash or grade 1 terminator. Grade 1 mode is also set by grade 1 indicators.
  3. Standing alone: A braille symbol that is standing alone may have a contracted (grade 2) meaning. A letter or unbroken sequence of letters is “standing alone” if the symbols before and after the letter or sequence are spaces, hyphens, dashes or any combination thereof, including some common punctuation. Refer to the Rules of Unified English Braille, §2.6 for more information on the standing alone rule.
  4. Item: An “item” is defined as the next symbol or one of seven groupings listed in Rules of Unified English Braille, §11.4.1.

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