Nemeth Braille - Principles of The Nemeth Code

Principles of The Nemeth Code

The Nemeth Code Book (1972) opens with the following words:

This Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation has been prepared to provide a system of symbols which will allow technical literature to be presented and read in braille. The Code is intended to convey as accurate an impression as is possible to the braille reader of the corresponding printed text, and this is one of its principal features. When the braille reader has a clear conception of the corresponding printed text, the area of communication between himself and his teacher, his colleagues, his associates, and the world at large is greatly broadened. A test of the accuracy with which the Code conveys information from the print to the braille text is to effect a transcription in the reverse direction. The amount of agreement between the original printed text and one transcribed from the braille is a measure of the Code's accuracy.

One consequence is that the braille transcriber does not need to know the underlying mathematics. The braille transcriber needs to identify the inkprint symbols, and to know how to render them in Nemeth Code braille. For example, if the same math symbol might have two different meanings, this would not matter. Both instances would be brailled the same. This is in contrast to the International Braille Music Code, where the braille depends on the meaning of the inkprint music. Thus a knowledge of music is required to produce braille music, but a knowledge of mathematics is not required to produce mathematical braille in the Nemeth code.