A new application makes math problems as simple as snapping a picture.
App developer MicroBlink has released PhotoMath, a program designed to solve mathematical equations captured though a cell phone camera. The technology was unveiled at the Disrupt technology conference in London and is available for iOS and Windows Phone with an Android version currently in the works.
PhotoMath can solve basic arithmetic such as addition, subtraction and multiplication as well as simple linear equations in real time. In addition to providing the correct answer to the equation, the app can even demonstrate the steps necessary to produce the result. PhotoMath has its limits, though, as higher math concepts such as calculus are outside its scope — at least for now.
As exciting as the PhotoMath release is for students, and potentially problematic for teachers, MicroBlink says the text recognition technology behind the app is their real focus. “We are not an educational company, we are promoting our machine vision technology with PhotoMath,” said MicroBlink CEO Damir Sabol in an interview with TechCrunch. MicroBlink is currently shopping it’s core software to developers for implementation in their own products.
Although PhotoMath has received criticism for providing students with a potential cheating tool, several services including the popular Wolfram Alpha website offer similar problem solving utilities — albeit without the same ease of use.
