PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator • Hacker News Board

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#21

Post by washedup » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 6:15 AM UTC

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the exercises?

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#22

Post by conistonwater » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 6:17 AM UTC

washedup wrote: post #21

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the exercises?

Yes, it does.

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#23

Post by kifki » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 6:50 AM UTC

colinbartlett wrote: post #11

est wrote: post #10

I have yet to see an app support trigonometry. Is recognizing graphs too hard?

All I can think of is that xkcd: http://xkcd.com/1425/

http://parkorbird.flickr.com

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#24

Post by valevk » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 8:22 AM UTC

kenrick95 wrote: post #9

Reminded me of "The Lenwoloppali Differential Equation Scanner" from The Big Bang Theory http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lenwoloppali_Differe...

I'm more surprised, that nobody did this earlier. The episode was around for a few years.

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#25

Post by maaaats » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 8:27 AM UTC

conistonwater wrote: post #22

washedup wrote: post #21

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the exercises?

Yes, it does.

No, it doesn't. It all depends on how you use it. Many people like to verify that they have done correctly before moving on to the next problem. Often no solution is given, which makes people unsure and nervous about continuing. And if you're stuck this can show you the steps and you can learn something.

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#26

Post by valevk » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 8:27 AM UTC

washedup wrote: post #21

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the exercises?

It depends how you use it, I think. Math in school is about learning and solving problems. But, many textbooks don't have answers. So how could you learn, if you don't know if you have success solving problems? I think this is great, but it will get abused.

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#27

Post by zerr » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 9:13 AM UTC

It is frustrating - why is it free? Please, do not dump the market...

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#28

Post by steveridout » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 9:31 AM UTC

zerr wrote: post #27

It is frustrating - why is it free? Please, do not dump the market...

You're fighting a losing battle, getting exposure is valuable for a startup and free is often a good route to get initial users.

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#29

Post by rawnlq » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 10:13 AM UTC

This reminds me of http://webdemo.myscript.com/#/demo/equation which recognizes handwritten equations. Also has an option to send to wolfram alpha to solve!

Re: PhotoMath – Smart camera calculator

#30

Post by wlievens » Wed, Oct 22, 2014, 10:19 AM UTC

valevk wrote: post #24

kenrick95 wrote: post #9

Reminded me of "The Lenwoloppali Differential Equation Scanner" from The Big Bang Theory http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lenwoloppali_Differe...

I'm more surprised, that nobody did this earlier. The episode was around for a few years.

I'm pretty sure this app doesn't solve differential equations ...