Electronic arithmetic learning aid with synthetic speech

Abstract

An electronic handheld arithmetic learning aid which includes a speech synthesis device, a speaker driven by the speech synthesis device, a memory having digital data stored therein from which a plurality of mathematical problems may be derived for presentation to an operator for solution, and a controller for accessing selected portions of the digital data from the memory for input to the speech synthesizer device in presenting the mathematical problems to the operator in an audibly voiced manner via the speaker. In one aspect, at least some of the mathematical problems derivable from the memory involve respective sets of at least two individual numbers from which the operator is expected to determine a particular mathematical relation in providing a solution to the corresponding mathematical problem. In another aspect, the mathematical problems derivable from the digital data of the memory respectively involve the random selection of an unknown number which the operator is expected to identify by proposing a trial number. The memory further includes the solutions to these problems and digital speech data for enabling the speech synthesizer device to provide speech signals from which words posing the mathematical problems, the correct solutions thereto, and comments on operator inputs may be audibly voiced in human speech via the speaker as driven by the speech synthesizer device. The talking electronic arithmetic learning aid presents the mathematical problems in words and phrases as audibly voiced in synthesized speech to enhance the ability of the operator in perceiving mathematical problems in an audibly verbalized form.