Probably, almost every student ever dreamed of a tool instantly solving math homework. Add to that the fact, that not seldom math is called the most tricky of all subjects. Now imagine you own a calculator which is able to do every math task instead of you, sounds good, eh? Half a year ago MicroBlink presented an application PhotoMath on iPhones, which can recognize mathematical tasks and solve them instantly also providing step-by-step solution, and now it is available on Android Play Market also. Creators of PhotoMath claim it to be the first сamera calculator.
How it all started
Damir Sabol, a technician (and MicroBlink CEO also) from Croatia and a caring father got simply tired of watching how desperate his son is about adding and subtracting. He started working on the app and soon created something that appeared to be more than a simple calculator. Later not only students, but also their parents and teachers thanked him for this invention.
Nowadays, PhotoMath is free and available for iOS, Windows Phone, and Android! In order to solve an example, you just need to select the area with the problem on the screen using camera of the smartphone, the boundaries of the selection can be changed manually. Solved examples are stored in a special section where you can see not only the result, but also all the intermediate steps of the solving process. The application can scan tasks from both paper and the screen, though in the second case it may take a bit longer. Handwriting, unfortunately, cannot be recognized by the app.
PhotoMath as a Fuel to Educational Reform?
Everyone has probably heard of the coming-soon educational reform in the USA (which is going to be announced in May, 2015), but not all of you are aware of how it is connected with a smart app. As MicroBlink reports in their blog, recently PhotoMath was unexpectedly tested by Mrs. Obama and later even by her husband, Mr. President. The thing happened when their daughters had some difficulties with math and Mrs. Obama offered them to discover the solution by themselves and soon the kids simply found the app on the internet. It not only gave them the correct solution, but also showed the steps taken to solve it. President Obama and his wife are amazed by the helping app so much that they set up a project in which Washington DC schools hopefully will implement PhotoMath in studying process.
No more math homework? Not that fast
Ok, so having this app at home or at school, you can turn your math assignments into taking pictures of examples and instantly getting answers. Sounds great! Yet slow down a bit. There is still much to develop. At the moment, PhotoMath is able to solve elementary arithmetic problems, fractions, decimals, linear equations. As for equations, the unknowns should be typed in italic, otherwise the program can confuse, say, “x” with a multiplication sign.
However, with each update, “camera calculator” (so it is called by the developers) will be able to perform more actions, say the developers, offering hope to students who is yet to face trigonometry, functions and calculus. In other words, up to now, if you have a calculus assignment, you’re going to do it by yourself, but PhotoMath is going to help you in near future.
How about word problems?
Sad but true, word problems cursed by so many students are also not to be recognized and solved by camera calculator. Good news, in this case, are if you can manage to obtain an equation then camera calculator will help you further. Needless to say, that speaking of word problems, getting an equation is often the most complicated part of the task. So, even if you’re in elementary school, PhotoMath is not going to spare you of all math homework troubles. Anyway, you still have WolframAlpha. Besides, experts at Assignmentexpert.com are able to do your math homework (and also physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) of any level of complexity.
Besides, experts at Assignmentexpert.com are able to assist you with math homework (and also math, programming, physics etc.) of any level of complexity much better than this app. And apart from providing explanations and video tutorials on each stage of your assignment, our experts are also ready to answer any of your questions online and perform any homework you wish (including programs, projects, presentations, etc.). So each can choose his own way to get help:
Another cheating tool? School is in danger?
Creation of such application highlights serious challenges for modern equation, some may say, though the authors and fans of PhotoMath claim that the product will only help students to cope with math problems when they’re on their own and no tutor is around to help. All in all, we cannot resist progress, so, who knows, maybe tomorrow we’ll observe not only a camera calculator, but a real Homework Machine.
