My math-averse daughter wanted to cheat on her algebra homework. So we downloaded PhotoMath, a free app that lets you take a picture of your mathematical and algebraic equations, solving them for you and showing the steps to the solution.
PhotoMath has been at the top of the App Store charts for a couple of weeks, hitting number one on the Education, Kids Games and Top Apps lists. Small wonder, as it seems like a great way to get out of doing homework.
However, despite the concerns of some parents and teachers, apps like PhotoMath just won’t help when it comes to cheating — they’re far too limited. Still, it’s a promising technology that, once it matures, might actually turn into the type of wonder tool for education we’ve long been promised, turning our iOS devices into useful educational tools that will help kids actually learn math, rather than simply giving them a shortcut to homework answers.
To test PhotoMath, I loaded the app on my iPhone and handed it to my daughter. That’s when she figured out just how limited the popular math app is.
She tried to use it on her worksheet, which was full of linear inequalities to graph. PhotoMath won’t do those, nor will it solve quadratic equations, functional equations, equation systems or calculus problems.
My daughter was particularly upset that it didn’t work on word problems. “What good is this app, anyway?” she asked, huffing back up to her room to actually do her homework.
These apps aren’t going to let you cheat in math class. They’re pretty limited, and — in the case of PhotoMath — tricky to get to work with a standard textbook. Most modern textbooks have problem numbers and wording around the equations that mean it takes a steady hand to capture only the important information.
My daughter was fed up with the finicky nature of capturing an equation within the first couple of minutes, and totally done with the app when we figured out it couldn’t help her solve even one of her homework worksheet problems.
The potential here, though, could be scary to those who think that kids should learn math technology-free, like they did back in the days of chalkboards. I contacted my daughter’s algebra teacher, Marla Sanders, to see what she thought of the tech.
“On the good side, they offer learners the chance to check and compare their work in real time so they are less frustrated during practice time,” she said in an email. The act of actually figuring out “what happened” in a well-worked problem is a great way to develop a richer understanding of the math processes involved.
But she cautions parents and teachers to monitor their kids’ use of this technology, especially as it matures. “If everyone stresses learning as the goal at hand rather than grades,” she said, “they won’t have room to misuse the technology.” Parents, teachers and administrators must present a unified front to hold kids responsible for learning, and to use these tools responsibly.
At present, PhotoMath is an immature technology. You can use it to solve basic math problems or algebraic equations — and that’s about it. There’s a great potential here, though, as the software matures enough to quickly and easily solve a wider variety of problems. It’s up to us as parents and educators to make sure we continue to teach our children how to learn, rather than focusing on the “right answer,” which many kids can get using 20-year-old calculators.
What’s really important to me is that my daughter learns how to think abstractly and logically, which is what algebra does for her. If she needs a tool like PhotoMath to help her find out how a tricky math problem is solved, well, then, I’m all for it.
She’s certainly not able to use it to solve anything overly complicated or wordy, so she’s still gotta utilize that beautiful bit of hardware and software in her skull: her brain.
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
5 responses to “Controversial math apps won’t help kids cheat”
I agree. This app is far from being truly useful.Plus you would want your child to use his/her brain, right? Made a review about the app, if anyone is interested : http://youtu.be/QjH4mhwdOuI
What’s really important to me is that my daughter learns how to think abstractly and logically, which is what algebra does for her. If she needs a tool like PhotoMath to help her find out how a tricky math problem is solved, well, then, I’m all for it.
She’s certainly not able to use it to solve anything overly complicated or wordy, so she’s still gotta utilize that beautiful bit of hardware and software in her skull: her brain.
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This summarizes just why these programs are useless as best and dangerous at worst from a mathematician’s perspective. If your daughter doesn’t spend the time to figure out trivial exercises, then she will have no hope figuring out actual (word) problems, and be hopeless at thinking about problems that don’t come with instructions (the real world). These programs aren’t even useful for checking answers because that too should be a part of basic math training. You got to know how to estimate answers and how to check if your answer is at least reasonable. (These are all practical skills)
For instance you mention graphing linear inequalities. Its as simple as graphing any line. Let’s say you have 3x+2y < 6. First consider the *equality*. Pick a convenient value like x=0. Then y = 3. Pick another value like y=0, then x = 2. So (0,3) and (2,0) are points on the line. Plot the points and draw a (dashed)* line between them. (Notice no need to figure out slope or have the equation in some stupid "form".) Now for the inequality. Pick a convenient point like (0,0). Then you have 0 < 6 which is true. So the origin is in the set that inequality describes. In this case the origin is below the line. And because of how lines work…everything else below the line is in the set that the inequality describes. Notice if you pick x=100,y=100, then 500 < 6 is false. *The reason for drawing the dashed line is because the inequality is strict. So the set will exclude the line itself indicated by dashing.
Summary. Substitute x=0 & y=0 into the equation to get two points to plot. Draw the line between them. Substitute (0,0) into the inequality. If it is true, then the origin and everything on that side of the line is in the set, so shade that. If it is false then shade the only other choice. The equality 3x+2y=6 is exactly the set that 3x+2y 6 do not contain.
First of all, people are overreacting to PhotoMath’s step-by-step
solutions. The website WolframAlpha has offered step-by-step
solutions for algebra problems since 2009 (source).
Anyone with a smartphone or computer could have used WolframAlpha, and yet no
one has made a big deal about it! If students have not been cheating in the past 5 years, why is everyone scared now?
Second, I wholeheartedly support PhotoMath’s solver and similar
tools. We as a society should embrace tools that make calculation
easier, whether it’s a handheld calculator, a spreadsheet program,
or an app on a phone. In the 1970s educators had similar fears the
pocket calculator would ruin math education (source).
Nowadays schools require graphing calculators.
Students should still learn algebra and how to solve equations, so I
would PhotoMath on exams for algebra class. However, for advanced
classes I would encourage PhotoMath and similar tools as a way to
solve and check equations.
(My credentials: I’ve been writing about math since 2007 on my blog
MindYourDecisions http://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ and making math videos on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/MindYourDecisions))
Out of curiosity: are you helping her learn math or ruin her very basics in math? Math is never just about solving problems, it’s about “how” you solve it-helping you to learn to observe, think logically, analyze and come to conclusions. Introducing such tools to kids will only ruin their basis, thereby creating an aversion towards mathematics at higher levels!
Look at an app like MATH 42 — I have three kids that use it every time they have a problem in math. It displays solutions to given problems step-by-step, show definitions and allows them to train and test themselves.
I’m a maths teacher (8-10th grade) myself and always encourage my student stop use those apps, because it gives an approach that is different from what I, a “boring” maths-teacher say.
These Kids use apps — like MATH 42 or GeoGebra — with such fluency see how much it helps them that I even let them use it in class.
Because of my experience I am pleading for more use of those apps at home and especially in schools.
Charlie