A new phone app that solves math problems by taking a picture could make it so easy for students to cheat some teachers say it may require a major change in classroom assignments.
But the creators of the PhotoMath app, which solves math problems and shows all of the work after a picture is taken of the problem on a smartphone, insist it is designed as an educational tool.
"We need to think deeply about how we can create an environment of learning both in and outside the classroom, because the technology is making outside the classroom a moot point unless we make some changes long term," Reno, Nev. high school math teacher Glenn Waddell Jr. wrote in an email to his school's department, according to a blog written by Dan Meyer, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University in the field of math education.
The application is shown to work seamlessly in an online demonstration.
The phone is held over a math book and snaps a picture of a problem. The app then solves it and underlines step by step how it arrived at the answer.
But could that level of sophistication make math too easy for students who would use it to do their homework?
Meyer told the Daily News, he is in touch with thousands of math educators online and none has expressed concern over the app. However he said he does hope the product is successful because it would mean a lot of changes to the current methods teachers use.
Changes the Mountain View, Calif. resident said may not be a bad thing.
"If it could do everything it promised, it'd ideally mean teachers would assign fewer dull exercises and the more interesting problems that PhotoMath can't solve - real-world problems, questions that require arguments, estimation questions, graphing questions, etc.," he said in an email.
But the 32-year-old said initially he and his fellow teachers have discovered the app doesn't work with a lot of reliability and had problems reading some problems. Some of the correct answers came to the solution in "unintuitive ways," he said.
"If it worked perfectly it'd absolutely change the kinds of math problems I'd assign - fewer of the kind PhotoMath could do automatically, more of the kind that require student thought," he said. "We're really far away from that, though."
But the app is definitely on the radar of teachers who would be more affected by PhotoMath and would have to make some changes.
Waddell sent the email to his colleagues Wednesday with the subject line of "if you still assign drill and kill problems."
"I hate to be the bearer of unwelcome news this morning, but if you are not keeping up with the world of math technology, it is reaching a tipping point of changing what we do," he starts the email.
Waddell warned his fellow faculty they need to rethink what the purpose of homework is for because that tipping point "is rapidly approaching."
Izet Ždralovic, co-founder of the London-based company MicroBLINK that developed the product, told The News he understands the concern about students using it for less than honest purposes on their schoolwork but insists the program is a learning tool.
"A lot of people are saying 'oh my God, kids will cheat. When calculators were first introduced people were afraid of that, but now you can't go to school without a calculator," he said. "We don't just give answers but complete steps of how to get there."
And students have cheated long before this app was available, he said.
"If someone is a cheater they can always find a way to cheat. They can put the (question) on the Internet," he said. "Cheaters can use it to cheat but if you see the potential you can use it to learn."
Ždralovic said some bugs are to be expected in the product's first version and an update will soon be available to increase accuracy and speed. So far he said ratings have been "better than expected."
The application has already been downloaded 2 million times in the first 24 hours since it was made available on Wednesday, Ždralovic said.
"The reaction has been better than expected," he said. "People are very happy and excited about it."
The app is currently able to solve problems through a 9th or 10th grade level but the company is working to improve it and also add higher levels of math. The company also plans to use the technology in other fields, and the technology could be used to define words or help read handwriting, he said.
PhotoMath was created in the past year as the company has been developing its "mobile vision" technology for the past 3.5 years, he said.
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