Mathematician here. No it's really not. Having used it extensively it craps out all the time, fails to parse things properly, doesn't understand anything other than a very narrow undefined subset of anything that needs to be done and generally makes things harder.
It sure looks like it would though.
Noteful and a competent calculator with CAS functionality on the other hand might be a different outcome.
Parsing traditional 2D math notation is super hard problem and this is first public version. Things will get better with time.
But you hit the nail on the head with "narrow undefined subset". Documentation on Math Notes is almost non-existent. There are standards for math notation, so I guess they will announce it when they match parity. Again, too soon.
To be fair, “math education” usually refers to the millions that learn arithmetic, algebra, and geometry every year, not the (tens of?) thousands that take part graduate level courses in “real” mathematics. Although I’m curious; do you think it would handle basic calculus (aka as taught in Calc survey courses up through multivariate)? In other words: does it know how to evaluate integrals and derivatives? Because I’d guess more people take those classes than all their descendants combined.
Either way, and on a more fundamental note: I’m a little dubious that “completing equations” is a net benefit for math education. It really seems like a small nice-to-have-available affordance tacked on to the real game changer: a computer that can adaptively challenge a student and competently answer clarifying questions without making it too easy. Y’know, just AGI stuff lol
As we’ve all seen from ChatGPT’s impact on English courses already, this all will require a fundamental rethink of how we teach children and adolescents. Homework is a bandaid over capitalist failings, and it’s beginning to peel…
It has no idea about calculus at all. Not only that it's a numeric not a symbolic calculator. So taking it even further back to basics, if you do sqrt(12) it should really crap out 2+sqrt(3) [as a surd] but it just dumps the evaluation out. My £10 Casio can handle that better.
As for education, you don't really need a calculator. We don't really use them that much. Pen, paper, ears.
As for computers, programmed randomised questions with deterministic answers and documented steps to solve the problems are the right way. LLMs can't do that even if they look like they can. some universities actually have tools which generate those. Those are truly enlightening as you can see the reasoning properly.
But better calculator does revolutionize math education. Math is about problem-solving – if I can use tool that speeds up the boring parts (those that can be automated), I can focus on what really matters. For example, doing logarithms with slide rule is slow. Computing logarithms with digital calculator is easy. Do person with slide rule has any advantage over person with calculator? What about reverse?
Wolfram Mathematica – it is designed for smart and highly educated people – CAS with M-expr LISP frontend isn't for everybody. Math Notes is designed for children of ages 6-99.
Handheld calculators that calculate logs require a human to hit buttons; that's the rate limiting process.
Both the calculator and slide rule are fast at the actual table lookup. The hairline mark on the slide rule's cursor performs a fast lookup; it instantaneously links the input value with its logarithm.
It's the button punching on the calculator, or sliding of the cursor of the slide rule, and the reading of the result, that are slow.
The limitations of slide rules compared to calculators are:
- precision: you can't get anywhere near a six figure logarithm or product. In engineering, you usually don't need this; but you do need intuition for being in the right ballpark. Forget slide rules for accounting/finance though.
- variety of functions: there are only so many tables you can fit on a slide rule before it becomes unwieldy.
- lack of registers for recalling prior values, such as frequently reused intermediaries. Even the cheapest, simples calculators usually have an accumulator register you can add to or subtract from, recall and clear. The user can have several slide rules to have multiple cursors left at different values.
The actual speed of calculating what is available, with the available precision, is not bad. The game-changing speed difference comes with programmable calculators.
With Math Notes, you just write with your hand `log₂(1024)=` and you'll see the result. No slide rules, no buttons, just magic paper that does math. In this case, the logarithm is the tool I want – not slide rule, not handheld calculator. The less UI, the better UI.
Usually, people use slide rule and handheld calculator in combination with paper and pencil. Combo of writing tool & computing tool. Merging them is a good idea.
Ironic how one demonstrates a questionable grasp on market dynamics if they think a feature of an expensive iDevice won't be copied by competitors and sold for less.
