MathTrax : Useful Math Tool for All and especially for Visually Impaired Students

MathTrax allows visually impaired students to “hear” complex math graphs like this in real time [Image courtesy: NASA]

A team at NASA has created a user-friendly software that allows students to graph equations, do physics simulations and interact with the data and understand it all through text, tones and spoken language. The package, named MathTrax, transforms graphs and equations in real-time into sound, so students have multiple ways to process complex information.

Students can hear and read about the graph and actually can hear the music of certain equations. It is great software package for all students but it comes especially useful to students with visual impairments, who, until the launch of MathTrax, did not have such a fascinating tool to help them delve into the beautiful world of mathematics. Blind and low vision users can access visual math data and graph or experiment with equations and datasets using these tools.

At a NASA science camp called “Rocket On”, 9-12 grade students with vision impairments used MathTrax for dealing with rocketry for mission planning, trajectory planning and data analysis. Besides analyzing rocket launches, students can also use MathTrax to do things like study ozone change, illustrate air and sea interactions, study rainfall distribution, forecast ecosystem changes, investigate the nature of black holes, explore the expansion of space, estimate solar activity, model solar wind, compare body adaptations to microgravity, track the effects of space radiation and represent and model scientific information.

For free download of MathTrax, visit NASA MathTrax Webpage.