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On the one hand I love that people are thinking about how to make algebra more approachable and more usable in everyday life, but on the other hand I fear that

On the one hand I love that people are thinking about how to make algebra more approachable and more usable in everyday life, but on the other hand I fear that it might mess with the learning curve. Once you want to do something that's beyond the capabilities of the scrubbing calculator, you start from zero because nobody's ever told you about algebraic equations and unknowns and you only know how to describe your problem in terms of "connections" and "locked numbers." Compare this to an application like Calca (http://calca.io/ http://calca.io/). Calca is more difficult to start with for a mathophobe because, while it will solve your calculations and equations for you, you do have to explicitly define all variables and formulate an equation. But the result is that the learning curve when you graduate from the application is much smoother: you can easily port more complex problems to a programming language or pen-and-paper math. Your existing knowledge doesn't suddenly become void.

Chris2048 11y ago
The only problem there a bridging this to systems that can solve more complex cases. Might be difficult, I admit; Maybe introduce these concepts/UIs (connections etc) into math apps?
cbhl 11y ago
One of my co-workers introduced me to Dragonbox the other day. It purports to teach algebra through a game. (There are two versions; one for 5 year olds and one for 13 year olds.) The left and the right sides of the field are the sides of the equation. The "dragon box" is x, and you are trying to isolate it on one side. Galaxy images are 0, and can be removed at any time by tapping. Multiplication by 1 can similarly be done. Dice are used to represent numbers and can be added/subtracted, factored, divided/multiplied; other critters are used to represent other constants (a, b, c) and have the same done. If you get far enough along, they substitute an 'x' icon for the dragon box, and letters for the constants. However, the game doesn't explain why certain operations are allowed or disallowed -- each of the algebraic rules introduced is described as a "new magic power".
duncancarroll 11y ago
No offense, but clearly no good deed goes unpunished on Hacker News =) Notwithstanding opinions on the merits or lack thereof of abstracting and visualizing concepts that may or may not help your syntactical understanding of algebra, I want to point out that this is A) a brilliant idea and B) a really cool implementation. Kudos to the developer who spent the time to implement this, and to Brett for putting the idea forward. I hope this gets traction and is continued to be built upon.
- stdbrouw 11y ago
  It's great work. Constructive criticism can make it even better.
  - duncancarroll 11y ago
    I know, and I don't mean to single you out, it just gets tiresome when the top-voted HN comment always seems to be critical. I felt this post in particular deserved better. It was even more funny because while I was waiting for the comments to load I was thinking, "This is an awesome tool, but I bet the top comment is going to be some obscure reason not to like it."

Chris2048 11y ago

The only problem there a bridging this to systems that can solve more complex cases. Might be difficult, I admit; Maybe introduce these concepts/UIs (connections etc) into math apps?

cbhl 11y ago

One of my co-workers introduced me to Dragonbox the other day. It purports to teach algebra through a game. (There are two versions; one for 5 year olds and one for 13 year olds.) The left and the right sides of the field are the sides of the equation. The "dragon box" is x, and you are trying to isolate it on one side. Galaxy images are 0, and can be removed at any time by tapping. Multiplication by 1 can similarly be done. Dice are used to represent numbers and can be added/subtracted, factored, divided/multiplied; other critters are used to represent other constants (a, b, c) and have the same done. If you get far enough along, they substitute an 'x' icon for the dragon box, and letters for the constants. However, the game doesn't explain why certain operations are allowed or disallowed -- each of the algebraic rules introduced is described as a "new magic power".

duncancarroll 11y ago

No offense, but clearly no good deed goes unpunished on Hacker News =) Notwithstanding opinions on the merits or lack thereof of abstracting and visualizing concepts that may or may not help your syntactical understanding of algebra, I want to point out that this is A) a brilliant idea and B) a really cool implementation. Kudos to the developer who spent the time to implement this, and to Brett for putting the idea forward. I hope this gets traction and is continued to be built upon.

stdbrouw 11y ago
It's great work. Constructive criticism can make it even better.
- duncancarroll 11y ago
  I know, and I don't mean to single you out, it just gets tiresome when the top-voted HN comment always seems to be critical. I felt this post in particular deserved better. It was even more funny because while I was waiting for the comments to load I was thinking, "This is an awesome tool, but I bet the top comment is going to be some obscure reason not to like it."