Glossary

Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.

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Algebra Earcon(also: Mathematical Earcon, Math Sound): A non-speech auditory cue designed to represent the structural components of mathematical expressions, allowing blind users to perceive the overall shape and nesting of an expression without relying solely on sequential speech output. Algebra earcons use variations in rhythm,…
AsTeR(also: Audio System for Technical Readings): An interactive computing system developed by T. V. Raman in his 1994 PhD thesis at Cornell University that converts LaTeX documents into navigable audio documents. AsTeR parses electronic documents into a tree structure that listeners can interactively browse, enabling…
Braille Mathematics(also: Math Braille, Braille Math Notation): The various systems of Braille codes designed specifically to represent mathematical expressions, formulas, and notation in a tactile format readable by blind individuals. Because standard literary Braille does not have enough symbols to represent the full range of mathematical…
Canonical MathML(also: Canonical Mathematical Markup Language): A restricted, normalised subset of MathML in which mathematical structures are represented in a deterministic, unambiguous way. While standard Presentation MathML allows the same mathematical expression to be encoded in multiple equivalent ways, Canonical MathML enforces a…
Content Dictionary(also: CD, OpenMath Content Dictionary): A formal specification in the OpenMath standard that provides the definition, description, and properties of a collection of related mathematical symbols. Each Content Dictionary defines symbols used in a particular mathematical domain (such as arithmetic, linear algebra, or…
Decimal System(also: Base-10 System, Decimal Number System): The standard numeral system using ten digits (0-9) where the value of each digit depends on its position, with each position representing a power of ten. Understanding the decimal system requires grasping place value — that the digit 4 represents different quantities in 400, 40,…
Graphical Model(also: Visual Model, Graphical Representation): In educational and accessibility contexts, a visual representation system that uses shapes, colours, spatial relationships, and physical manipulation to convey abstract concepts. Graphical models for mathematics represent numbers as groups of objects whose size corresponds to…
InftyReader(also: Infty Reader): A specialised optical character recognition (OCR) system designed to recognise mathematical expressions in scanned documents, developed by the Infty Project (Suzuki et al.). Unlike general-purpose OCR, InftyReader can accurately parse complex mathematical notation (fractions,…
Lambda Notation(also: Lambda Math Code, Lambda Braille): A mathematical Braille notation system developed as part of the Lambda project, designed specifically for use with computers and digital documents. Lambda is an XML-based code built on a completely new foundation, featuring a Braille character dictionary and pattern-matching…
Line Graph(also: Line Chart, Line Plot): A type of data visualization that displays information as a series of data points connected by straight line segments, commonly used to show trends over time or relationships between variables. Line graphs are a fundamental tool in mathematics education and data analysis, but…
Marburg Notation(also: Marburg Mathematical Notation, Marburg Braille): A Braille-based mathematical notation system developed at the Deutsche Blindenstudienanstalt (German Institute for the Blind) in Marburg, Germany, and widely used in German-speaking countries for reading and writing mathematics. Marburg notation is a 6-dot Braille code optimized…
Math-to-Speech(also: Mathematical Speech Generation, Math Speech): The process of converting mathematical notation into spoken language that can be rendered by text-to-speech engines or read aloud by screen readers. Math-to-speech is significantly more complex than reading ordinary text because mathematical expressions are two-dimensional,…
MathML(also: Mathematical Markup Language): An XML-based markup language standardized by the W3C for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. MathML enables screen readers and other assistive technologies to interpret and convey mathematical expressions to users with visual…
MathML(also: Mathematical Markup Language): A W3C standard XML-based markup language for describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and content. MathML comes in two forms: presentation MathML, which describes how a formula looks (layout and visual appearance), and content MathML, which describes…
MathPlayer: A software plugin developed by Design Science that enables the rendering and text-to-speech reading of mathematical expressions encoded in MathML within web browsers and other applications. MathPlayer works with screen readers and text-to-speech tools like Read & Write Gold to…
Mathematical Accessibility(also: Math Accessibility, STEM Accessibility): The practice of making mathematical notation, formulas, equations, and quantitative content accessible to people with disabilities, particularly blind and low-vision users. Mathematical notation poses unique accessibility challenges because it is inherently visual and…
Mathematical Notation(also: Math Notation): The system of symbols, conventions, and spatial arrangements used to represent mathematical concepts and relationships. Standard mathematical notation is inherently two-dimensional and visual, using spatial positioning (such as superscripts for exponents, horizontal lines for…
Mathematical Notation Accessibility(also: Math Accessibility, Accessible Mathematics): The practice of making mathematical expressions, equations, and formulae perceivable and understandable by people with disabilities, particularly those who are blind or have low vision. Mathematical notation is inherently two-dimensional and spatial — using superscripts,…
Nemeth Braille Code(also: Nemeth Code, Nemeth Mathematics Braille): A system of Braille encoding developed by Abraham Nemeth in 1946 for representing mathematical and scientific notation, widely used in the United States and some other English-speaking countries. The Nemeth Code uses combinations of standard six-dot Braille cells with…
Number Sense(also: Numeracy Intuition, Numerical Cognition): The intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitude, relationships, and how they are affected by operations. Number sense includes the ability to estimate quantities, understand relative size, recognize patterns, and make meaningful comparisons between numbers without…
OpenMath: An XML-based standard for representing mathematical objects and their semantics in a machine-readable format. Unlike MathML, which has both presentation (visual layout) and content (semantic structure) modes, OpenMath focuses purely on semantic meaning, defining mathematical…
Order-Irrelevance Principle: The counting principle that the order in which objects are counted does not affect the total — counting the same set of objects in any sequence will yield the same number. This concept, while intuitive for most people, is often not understood by learners with dyscalculia, who…
Subitizing: The rapid, accurate perception of the number of items in a small group without counting, typically for quantities up to about four or five. Subitizing is considered a core numerical ability that contributes to number sense development. Individuals with dyscalculia often have…
Universal Maths Conversion Library(also: UMCL): An open-source programming library that encapsulates converters for different Braille mathematical codes, enabling applications to convert between MathML and various national Braille mathematical notations. UMCL supports multiple Braille math systems including Nemeth code (used…

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