Word Processor for Math Notes

Yes and no. There are math word procesing programs. The most complete I have heard of is TeX. It is quite simple and is designed to be easy to type but requires learning a code for each symbol. Other programs, such as Microsoft Word, have a symbol system built in if you load it from the CD. However, there are so many math symbols combined in so many ways that *all* such programs take quite a bit of learning to use. The majority, particularly the Word program, are terribly clunky and annoying. I don’t know if there is anything that could practically be used at the speed required for note-taking.

There is one on Microsoft Word but you have to go to “Tools” (I *think*) and activate it; it’s not there by default. (It’s called “Equation editor” so the help menu shoudl give directions).

There is another one that takes it further called MathType - go to http://www.mathtype.com for more info.

THat’s the one that comes up most often in teh assistive tech board I’m on; if you look up the QIAT (www.qiat.org) listserv archives you can find other options.

Victoria has a point, though - it may be that anothe roption for getting notes would be better.

We’ve got “Smart” classrooms where what you write on the ‘board’ can be turned into computer files, so it might be worth investigating that (our math classes use them).

Is your child in a classroom where an interactive whiteboard is used such as a SmartBoard or Mimio? These tools save everything that the teacher writes on the board and, when posted on a web site, can be easily retrieved for review at home.

Many classrooms are investing in this type of tool. It allows the student to really attend to the instruction and not worry about documenting everything.

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately my child is not in a high-tech classroom.

I looked at Math Type - tried the 30 day trial the other day. It looks great (once you get the hang of it). I could see it being usefull in some instances, but not classroom use.

I knew it would be a stretch to find something that would be easy enough to do quickly and powerful enough to do everything that my child needs.

IT might be worth the battle to make it happen in that classroom, for your child and for other students. (On the other hand, if you’ve got a kiddo that doesn’t want to do anything that is too ‘different’ then you don’t want to set things up that won’t be used.)

To the best of my knowledge, things like AlphaSmarts don’t have equation editors in them, but that’s the kind of thing that changes with new editions. http://www.keyboardinstructor.com/ is a competitor to the alphasmart but if ‘keyboard instructor’ is what’s important enough to name the domain, they prob’ly don’t have an equation editor either. HOwever, it might be worth contacting both companies with an email to see if they knwo options .