TALKING MATH WIZARD¢BY MATTHEW RATCLIFF¢¢Math Wizard, my arcade-style¢arithmetic practice program for¢schoolchildren, was published in the¢April, 1984 issue of Antic. This¢month's Super Disk Bonus is the¢Covox-enhanced sequel -- Talking¢Math Wizard.¢¢ When you zap a correct answer,¢Talking Math Wizard speaks the¢complete equation. For example, if¢a 27 is at the top of the screen and¢you zap "11+16," the program would¢say: "Eleven plus sixteen equals¢twenty-seven."¢¢ Helping me program this magic was¢the $39.95 Covox Voice Master¢Junior. However, you do not need a¢Covox or any other special equipment¢to play Talking Math Wizard -- only¢the MATHWIZ.BAS, MATH.SYS and¢WIZTALK.SPK files from this month's¢Antic Disk. But if you own a¢Covox Voice Master or Voice Master¢Junior, you can can get rid of my¢voice from the file and put in your¢own voice -- or any other sound you¢choose.¢¢ When you RUN Talking Math Wizard¢from the Side B main menu of the¢Antic Disk, you'll see a game¢options menu. By fine-tuning these¢options, you can change the type and¢difficulty of the problems. Plug a¢joystick into port 1. Move the¢stick up and down to put the¢flashing cursor next to the item you¢want to change. Push the stick left¢or right to change the value of that¢option. Options include:¢¢ 1. Minimum starting number (MIN):¢The smallest value used in the math¢problems.¢¢ 2. Maximum starting number (MAX):¢The largest value used in the¢problems. This value must exceed¢MIN by at least five.¢¢ 3. Percent Correct to Advance:¢Each round has six problems. To go¢to the next round, in which both MIN¢and MAX increase, your score must¢match or beat this value.¢¢ 4. Difficulty Increment: The¢number by which MAX will increase¢after each round.¢¢ 5. Rounds per game.¢¢ 6. Problem type: Select addition,¢subtraction or multiplication.¢¢ The high score, most recent score¢and type of math problem for the¢high-score game are displayed near¢the top of the menu screen.¢¢ Press the joystick button to¢begin the game. The number of the¢current round, the problem number¢and your percentage of correct¢answers appear at the far right.¢The current problem type appears at¢the top of the screen. The answer¢box is below.¢¢ As the round begins, six problems¢scroll toward the bottom of the¢screen, where you are stationed with¢a number blaster (flashing cursor).¢An answer to one of the problems is¢selected at random, spoken and¢displayed at the top of the screen.¢Move the cursor under the problem¢whose answer corresponds to the one¢displayed above. Press the joystick¢button to select the matching¢problem. If more than one problem¢has the indicated solution, choose¢the one nearest the cursor to save¢time and earn more bonus points at¢the end of the round.¢¢ If your answer is correct, the¢problem is blasted back to the top¢of the screen. The correct answer¢is displayed beneath it, and then¢the entire problem is spoken. Then¢the next answer is displayed and¢spoken, and the scrolling continues.¢If you blast an incorrect answer, it¢is ignored except for a lowering of¢your success percentage.¢¢ If a problem reaches the bottom¢of the screen before you can answer¢it, it will scroll back to the top¢of the screen. There, the correct¢answer will be displayed and the¢entire problem will spoken.¢¢ If your percentage of correct¢answers is below the minimum, you¢must repeat the round. If your¢percentage is high enough, you will¢receive a bonus for speed and¢accuracy.¢¢ When all rounds are complete, the¢main menu comes up again and the¢high score is displayed. At this¢point you may press [ESCAPE] to exit¢to BASIC, or select new options and¢play another game.¢¢INSERT YOUR VOICE¢¢ For Covox owners who want to¢insert new speech data, here's how¢to do it. First load the Voice¢Master software, version VM800 for¢the Atari 800. The XL/XE versions¢will not work properly with Talking¢Math Wizard II.¢¢ Note the USR calls in lines 50,¢110, 190 and 210. With VM800¢loaded, simply enter what you see in¢the REM portion of each line. The¢VM800 "wedge" software automatically¢translates those commands into the¢proper USR calls for you. Note that¢you may get an error with the SSAVE¢command. My version of VM800 has¢trouble parsing it, but the syntax¢is easily corrected.¢¢ RUN WIZTALK.BAS from this month's¢Antic Disk. Put a joystick in port¢1 and the Voice Master microphone¢plugged into port 2. WIZTALK will¢prompt you for each word it needs to¢learn. Speak the word distinctly¢and quickly. After the program¢learns the word, it is played back¢for you immediately. If the word¢sounds all right to you, press the¢trigger to move on to the next word.¢Otherwise, pull back on the joystick¢to say that word again.¢¢ After each word is learned, total¢size of the current speech data is¢displayed. Keep a close eye on¢this: It must not exceed 12,000¢bytes or it will be too large to fit¢in Talking Math Wizard. You may¢need to run WIZTALK a few times¢before you get a feel for how fast¢to talk.¢¢ Once you're done, copy¢MATHWIZ.BAS (the main program),¢MATH.SYS (which contains data for¢three assembly language routines)¢and WIZTALK.SPK to another disk and¢RUN "D:MATHWIZ.BAS".¢
