The following summarises the main changes to the braille mathematics code as given in the new 2005 edition of "Braille Mathematics Notation", as compared to the previous 1987 edition. The changes are fairly minor, and were mostly prompted by the publication of the 2004 edition of British Braille in order to retain as much consistency as possible. References are given to the relevant paragraph numbers in the new code.
It is intended that these changes be made in conjunction with the use of the new edition of British Braille, and may be implemented in transcription as soon as convenient.
1. The numeral sign no longer carries over a literary hyphen. [2.1.6]
2. Single capital letters standing alone in normal text (or spaced at the beginning of an equation) now require a letter sign, to avoid ambiguity with wordsigns. [2.2.2]
3. Double fount indicators are now used for sequences of two or more letters, rather than three or more as was previously the case. [2.2.3]
4. The option to braille chemical formulae using mathmatics notation, as opposed to chemistry notation, has been added. [2.4]
5. The sign for the ampersand symbol has been changed to dot 4 12346 (i.e. the dot 4 prefix has been added). [Table of signs; 3.5]
6. The oblique stroke is now the two-cell sign dots 456 34. [4]
7. Additional advice is given on dealing with blanks in equations, as found in questions in school books. E.g. 64 - ? = 56. [12.4.1]
8. Unit abbreviations starting with a lower case letter followed by a capital letter, such as mW, now require a letter sign at the beginning. [14.2]
9. Signs for euro (dot 4 e) and cent (dot 4 c) have been added. [14.3]
August 2005