Few weeks ago Photomath 3.0 was released (iOS version, Android is coming soon). It was released just as I marked 6 months working at Photomath. I wanted to sum up few things that happend during this 6 months culminating with the release of Photomath 3.0.
THE UPDATE
This 3.0 version, as the number says, is a major update. It brings great stuff as new math solver, handwritten recognition etc. New solver heads photomath to more human-like steps and descriptions and that is one of the best features in Photomath, you get step-by-step descriptions as your tutor or teacher might give you. Handwritten recognition is also awesome feature and it might seem to lots of people that it is easy to add that, but it is a result of a lot of work, new techniques and approaches on tackling this problems. I can mention buzz words like machine or deep learning (as lots of people do), but we really use that, not just so we can ride the “hype” train, but to bring features like handwritten recognition to you and to make Photomath faster and better, and all running just on your phone, not on large servers (like some apps do).
EDUCATION
There will always be people that will say that technology and apps like Photomath are giving people more ways to cheat etc. People need to realize that math is not just solving that equations and calculating stuff. Math is so much more. Point of learning math is to learn the concepts, logic, calculations are just algorithms that we learn and execute as robots. And Photomath proves that. If you are stuck and don’t remember how you solve that integral, Photomath will tell you that. Of course, there is so much more to do to make it even more helpful, and I think we are heading in right direction and will make Photomath even better.
There is a great article/post talking about Photomath and new version http://aperiodical.com/2016/09/photomath-can-read-my-writing/ and if you have a minute or two go check it out. The end of article is specially great:
So, should I view Photomath as a terrifying assault on our ability to test students’ ability to apply mathematical techniques? Probably I should view it instead as a powerful tool to add to the mathematician’s toolkit, which hints at a world where handwritten mathematics can be solved or converted to nicely typeset documents, and so allow my students to gravitate from the tedious mechanics of the subject to greater ability to apply and show off their understanding. Probably.
6 MONTHS
As I said, I marked 6 months at Photomath as we released 3.0 version. I would like to mention few things that occured in that 6 months and made that journey event better.
First thing I experienced was seeing BIG numbers in analytics, daily/monthly active users, downloads etc. I knew that Photomath had great numbers before I joined, but when you open the dashboard and see that numbers with your own eyes, that is such a great feeling. Even more so when you know that small team makes Photomath. Seeing for the first time feature artwork section is iTunes Connect was also a cool moment. 🙂
About two months after I joined Photomath I got an email that almost every iOS developer dreams about getting it. I was selected to attend WWDC :)) Feel free to see my WWDC recap post! So, not even months at Photomath and getting that DUB DUB ticket, wow. 🙂
Speaking of conferences, we are also going to #Pragma Conference in Verona in a few weeks. If you will be there also, feel free to say hi! 🙂
Photomath is a great example of advanced technology being to tackle big tasks and still keeping great user experience and performance.
I am really happy and proud to be a part of this team and bringing Photomath to millions of people. If you are interested in hearing more about things we do and Photomath in general feel free to ask what ever comes on your mind, and if you want to join Photomath we have couple of open positions so check it out! 🙂
Feel free to download Photomath and write in comment section what you think about it. I appreciate your feedback! 🙂
Originally posted at https://medium.com/@bsevo/photomath-3-0-86f105e4527b