Boustrophedon?
 

[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon[/URL]

Has anyone trained themselves to be able to do this?

Web app: [URL]http://greekreader.webs.com/[/URL]

We can do it slowly after about 30 minutes of "training". We wish our Kindle supported it!

Vaguely related: [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typoglycemia[/URL]

:mike:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;418495][URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon[/URL]

Has anyone trained themselves to be able to do this?

Web app: [URL]http://greekreader.webs.com/[/URL]

We can do it slowly after about 30 minutes of "training". We wish our Kindle supported it!

Vaguely related: [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typoglycemia[/URL]

:mike:[/QUOTE]

we learned that as long as the first and last letter are readable your mind can do reading of words on it's own ( one way to mess up drug names) I was basically able to read the english examples without practice.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;418495]Vaguely related: [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typoglycemia[/URL]

:mike:[/QUOTE]Welcome to dyslexia.

This type of reversal is still used often with mathematical symbols, for example:
$x<y$ means $y>x$
$A\ni x$ means $x\in A$
$B\supset A$ means $A\subset B$.

I've always been able to read nearly equal in both directions and would often sign my name in reverse for "office cards."

Dyslexia? Perhaps so! I also often write the ones digit prior to the tens digit.

I had also done well with "speed reading" way back when and didn't move in either direction while reading down a page. More recently this practice has been replaced by both movement and sub-vocalization...

[QUOTE=EdH;418504]I've always been able to read nearly equal in both directions and would often sign my name in reverse for "office cards."

Dyslexia? Perhaps so! I also often write the ones digit prior to the tens digit.

I had also done well with "speed reading" way back when and didn't move in either direction while reading down a page. More recently this practice has been replaced by both movement and sub-vocalization...[/QUOTE]Although not "always been able", I've found it easy to read in both directions. Reading mirror writing (otherwise in the conventional orientation) aint too hard but I'm markedly slower than reading normal script. Reading upside down text likewise.

Being able to read non-conventional layout can be extremely useful. For instance, SWMBO and I were once in a meeting with a sales critter who was trying to sell us some product. Being able to read his notes and, especially, his prices almost as well as he could was very enlightening. We turned down his pitch.

I urge everyone reading this to learn how to read text which is reversed in one or more ways from the conventional orientation. It really isn't that hard IMAO, and certainly nowhere near as hard as learning to read the first time around.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;418495][URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon[/URL]

Has anyone trained themselves to be able to do this?

Web app: [URL]http://greekreader.webs.com/[/URL]

We can do it slowly after about 30 minutes of "training". We wish our Kindle supported it![/QUOTE]

I found the little sample on Wikipedia far more readable than the results of that app. I think it'd be best if it's monospaced and has a fixed number of chars per line. There's a Java app (also linked on Wikipedia) that can let you do it similar to that, but it still keeps a word on its own line...the irregular line lengths makes it harder to read. Reading all-caps makes it a fair bit easier. I'm guessing it'd just take a bit of training to be able to read regular caps just as well.

[URL="http://www.spreeder.com/"]spreeder[/URL] is a site I've used before that makes it pretty easy to read quickly.

I have difficulty reading what I have written. The foreknowledge of the intended contents seems to interfere with the process. On my printouts, I would often read it upside-down. The extra difficulty helped ensure that I actually read what was written.

[QUOTE=only_human;418525]I have difficulty reading what I have written. The foreknowledge of the intended contents seems to interfere with the process. On my printouts, I would often read it upside-down. The extra difficulty helped insure that I actually read what was written.[/QUOTE]Interesting idea!

:yzzyx:

I came upon this word after researching #16 in H. Dorrie's wonderful tome (Dover reprint). A more technical link: [URL]http://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0205218.pdf[/URL], provides a simple generalization.

After encountering this almost 2.5 decades ago, the connections to Umbral (Blissard) calculus, generalized matrix representations and extensions to trigonometry continually surprise me. One thing I have found is that when I have implemented unconventional notions, like the above, as a function within conventional CAS systems, I've always had to fight with the software as compared to lesser-well-known systems like Bertini, Form and even UBasic which are much more malleable..afterwards it's a tussle with the operating system and hardware which can become hairy-ugly but theoretically do-able.

For the adventurous, take a look at string writing/re-writing and you will encounter ACL2. One thing I was looking at, at the time, was the Robbin's conjecture. These questions were a lot more complicated to analyze/utilize (for me) back then. Boustrophedon, interesting concept but the word and its meaning make better sense within a Greek linguistic context than Latin (referencing etymology).

One point which I neglected to mention was the (obvious?) connection to genetics; another rabbit hole one can disappear within due to the fascinating science occurring within this field, theoretical and applied.

[QUOTE=Nick;418501]$B\supset A$ means $A\subset B$.[/QUOTE]
Well, actually not...
$B\supset A$ usually means $A\subset ������$.

:razz:

(grrr, actually \reversebox doesn't work here! I had to use that ugly unicode character, looking like an ass... hehe)

Strangely I had no difficulty at all. Just as fast in both directions. I've not specifically trained myself for it. I have also always been able to read upside-down and sideways (or any orientation actually). Now I just need to try with mirrored text in some other orientation to see if that poses any difficulty. BTW: I am not dyslexic either. :showoff:

[QUOTE=LaurV;418587]$B\supset A$ usually means $A\subset ������$.[/QUOTE]

WHO PLAYED WITH MY POST?
:smile:

Edit: Hey, it works in original tex!

[TEX]B\supset A [/TEX] usually means [TEX]\reflectbox A\subset \reflectbox B[/TEX]

[QUOTE=LaurV;418595]WHO PLAYED WITH MY POST?
:smile:

Edit: Hey, it works in original tex!

[TEX]B\supset A [/TEX] usually means [TEX]\reflectbox A\subset \reflectbox B[/TEX][/QUOTE]

you can technically define things with \def I've been reading that page I posted in the new math rendering engine thread.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;418495]We wish our Kindle supported it![/QUOTE]

The Kindle app on Android has (recently added, I think) "Word Runner", which is similar to [URL="http://www.spreeder.com/"]the site[/URL] I linked earlier, but more advanced: it slows down on longer words and punctuation. I used it to read a bit, it was pretty good.

As a youngster, I thought it a neat trick to learn the alphabet backward just as well as I learned it forward. It is a skill I possess to this day, and is one hell of a way to blow people's minds :smile:. I also did the backwards reading and pronouncing thing, and even managed to teach that skill to my sister (who also knows the alphabet backward fairly fast herself).

Reciting the digits of [TEX]\pi[/TEX] backwards is an excellent parlor game, and if that bores your guests, there are always the digits of [TEX]e[/TEX] to tackle.

I also pride myself on being able to write upside down fairly well, and also to be able to read others' upside-down writing.

I wonder if playing with English text in this way flexes the brain in a manner that would make it easier to learn foreign languages.

[QUOTE=NBtarheel_33;420956]I wonder if playing with English text in this way flexes the brain in a manner that would make it easier to learn foreign languages.[/QUOTE]
That's an interesting question. My guessed answer, which is only speculation, is that it would make it easier for some people but not others, depending on the method of language learning which suits the individual. I think that if you have the type of mind which focusses on translation of text from your first language when speaking a different one, then yes, the skills involved seem similar. But if your brain associates the foreign language words with their semantic context rather than translated phrases from your first language, it's a different type of task altogether.

[QUOTE=NBtarheel_33;420956]Reciting the digits of [TEX]\pi[/TEX] backwards is an excellent parlor game, and if that bores your guests, there are always the digits of [TEX]e[/TEX] to tackle.[/QUOTE]

That's impressive, considering there's no last digit to start from. :smile: