Accessible Math Equations

STEM fields, with their heavy use of mathematical equations, face a difficulty in creating accessible documents. Ideally students who rely on screen readers should be able to access the exact same content as their peers. Yet creating accessible math equations is problematic and, as a consequence, students who rely on screen readers are likely discouraged from pursuing education in STEM fields.

LaTeX

LaTeX, one of the most popular type-setting systems used by many Cornell professors and students, is not accessible. Screen readers cannot interpret equations written in LaTeX. A team of Cornell professors was able to figure out a way to make accessible equations in Canvas using LaTeX source code. Please see the next section for more information.

MathML

Mathematical Markup Language, or MathML, is readable by screen readers, mostly. You can install a MathML editor, MathType, into Microsoft products. This technology is not perfect though, especially for more complicated math equations.

Word

It is possible to have accessible math equations in Word if you use the built-in equation editor, MathType. For older documents with equations created using a different tool, equations may come in as images and need to be converted to MathML for screen readers to recognize these. In Word 2019, if you double click the equation, it will give you the option to convert the equation to MathML.

PowerPoint

Although you can create equations in PowerPoint using a MathType editor, PowerPoint still reads them as images. If you only have a few equations, the best solution would be to create alt text for these images. If the presentation is filled with math equations and they are complex, the best solution would be to provide the material in another format for students requiring accessibility.

Ongoing Issues & Recommendations

Issue: Treating equations as images with alt text is tedious and subject to variability in language used to describe equations.

Recommendation: Where possible, offer accessible versions of equations created using MathML.

Issue: Equations in PDF documents cannot be read by screen readers.

Recommendation: Use PDFs as you normally would for your class. However, create an “accessible versions” folder where you have the same material available in Word. If you are worried about providing an editable Word document to students, it is possible to restrict the editing of a document by following this method from Microsoft.

Issue: Professors are not likely to stop using LaTeX.

Recommendation: MathJax, a cross-browser JavaScript library, displays math equations in web browsers using MathML and works with screen readers. Converting document content to webpages that use MathJax could be a solution.

Recommendation: Use the LaTeX work-around in Canvas described in the next section.