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To: I1002812--IBMMAIL NFB R&D Committee
FROM: Steve Jacobson - IT Sales & Marketing Systems
3M Company - 555-01-03 Phone: (612) 733-9780
St. Paul, MN 55144 FAX: (612) 736-6037
Subject: Scientific Calculator
Dr. Nemeth,
Although your communication was rather heavy reading for my lunch hour,
I did find it fascinating. I have two ideas to set forth here for your
consideration.
First, since I was one who originally brought up the keyboard issue, I
want to restate that I am convinced that the numeric keypad should not
be a factor in choosing the location of functions. I would only say that
we should preserve the ability to use the numeric keypad when persons
find it convenient. If we avoid reading the keyboard by scan codes, this
should take care of itself.
I hope that others reading this note will hang in there and read the
next couple of paragraphs on graphing. I need some insurance that I am
not all wet on this one.
To base the resolution of our graphics on a 90X117 dot model would be, I
believe, a mistake. It would seem to me that graphics should be produced
using a resolution that is more typical of a computer screen or laser
printer. Once the graph is created, the image could then be translated
into a lower resolution using calculations similar to those you
outlined. the translation process would be applied to the entire image,
making the process independent of the specific graph being displayed.
There are three reasons that I feel this design philosophy should be
followed. First, persons using our graphic option may wish to use the
braille feature to check a graph that will eventually be submitted as
part of homework in print. We probably can't resolve all issues such as
print and braille imbedded text, but it would seem likely that the
production of a print image that could then be labeled by hand by a
reader would be desirable.
Second, displaying a graph on a computer monitor as is or through
magnification software may be of value to some persons either because
they don't have access to a braille printer or because they may work in
groups that include sighted persons.
Finally, I believe that some braille printers can space dots closer to
one another than the standard spacing when in graphics mode. However,
even if they cannot right now, that is the kind of thing that could
change. If I understand the current approach correctly, this additional
detail could not be extracted.
All three of these points may not be significant enough to deserve a
great deal of additional development time. However, creating graphs at a
high level of detail would keep our options open later to create output
at various lower levels of detail without adding much to the overall
design of the calculator.
Thanks for listening.
Regards,
Steve Jacobson
INTERNET: USMMMXBL@IBMMAIL.COM
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