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I really want to do Math Academy and even briefly tried it a year ago. It's absolutely great but it's also very expensive. I know that math skills are invaluabl

by rcarr 2y ago

I really want to do Math Academy and even briefly tried it a year ago. It's absolutely great but it's also very expensive. I know that math skills are invaluable, it's far cheaper than schooling, and that long term the investment is likely to pay for itself but when you're skint $49/month is still a pretty hefty sum, especially if you live outside of America. For context in the UK, a basic gym membership (£17/month) and a SIM only phone plan with unlimited data (£22/month on a two year contract) only costs £1 more in total than Math Academy (£38/month). I can't help but feel that the people who would benefit from it the most are also the people least likely to be able to afford it.

8bitsrule 2y ago
[flagged]
- ABS 2y ago
  you could check the website slightly less quickly and see you can cancel at any time within the first 30 days and get a full refund https://www.mathacademy.com/terms-of-service#cancellation https://www.mathacademy.com/terms-of-service#cancellation It's what I did 10 days ago before deciding to try it out
  - lazyasciiart 2y ago
    I don’t trust those plans - it’s easy to forget to cancel it, and most products are simply hoping that you will forget. If I actually think I will want to cancel it, I will not sign up for services with this pattern. It’s a simple rule that saves a lot of mental overhead.
    - ABS 2y ago
      and that is fine, it's your choice but has nothing to do with the other party not offering an option to test, change your mind and not spend money. I personally just put a reminder in my calendar for all such things and be done with it.
    - jv22222 2y ago
      That is not the case with MA they will refund you with a click of a button and it will cost them money since stripe keep their cut and don’t refund it to MA.
- tptacek 2y ago
  Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- cultofmetatron 2y ago
  I use it. the format basicly consists of a list of modules (lessons or reviews) to work though. each lesson module starts with a short test on how to solve the problem it teaches, 1-2 worked problems and 2-3 problesm then more short text on how to solve some variation of the problem coupled with 2 solved problems and 2-3 for you to solve. review modules just give you a few problems to solve. if you can solve 3 without making any mistakes, it will finish the module and you can go tot he next one. every few days you are presented with a quiz that tests what you know and genearates review modules for you to go though before retesting you. overall, it seems spartan but its effective. you spend most of your time actuvly engaing with the problems with just enough information to solve them. the structure of the courses are setup such that you learn and master prerequisites before you are presented a lesson so there isn't much of the frustration you might find where a problem implicitly assumes you know something you don't. That a big reason they start you with a placement test. overall I'd say the $50 price tag is worth it. its very efficient vs reading and working though problem sets where you don't necessarily know what you need to know to solve them. you're not spending time figuring out what your knowledge gaps are as it fulls them in as you go for you.
gen_greyface 2y ago
+1 I wish there was PPP for the subscription, i tried for a few months but stopped the subscription recently.
nsfmc 2y ago
my read as a US person is that math academy is optimized towards students who would otherwise be well served by an in-person supplemental math program. at the earlier grades for math academy (grades 4-5 etc) the main competition i've encountered are in person programs like AoPS, Russian Math, or Kumon. The prices for those range between $450-$100/mo and for a student or student and parent combo that may be looking to supplement their math classes or for somebody who needs to home school for a period of time, mathacademy at $50/mo is a steal.
suncherta 2y ago
The way I come to look on such offers (monthly unlimited subscriptions) is not the net price itself, and not future supposed returns to it (who knows what they be, and they for sure will depend on many other things), but how many hours a week I am willing to spend on that service. If you can and willing dedicate on average 2 hours a day (a big commitment but I think I was able to hold it for several month with them) the cost of mastering, say, Linear Algebra will be ~4 less then if you subscribe and will be spending ~30 minutes a day.
ohgr 2y ago
Go on eBay and buy the following Open University book sets. They go for around £30-50 a pop: MU123 (basics), MST124 (more complex). 6 months worth of study in each book set. If you like it do MST125 (even more complex) and M140 (stats) after. That's the first year of a mathematics degree literally from the ground up through GCSE and A-level stuff. If you really like it, get a student loan and do the associated accredited degree. £30 for 6 months is pretty damn cheap and you get to keep it forever! ebay example of the latest edition for sale: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/197011707080 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/197011707080 On archive.org too if you are happy with PDFs: https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22The+MU123+Course+Team%22 https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22The+MU123+Cour... First MU123 book A: https://archive.org/details/BookAMU1232ndedOU2014/MU123-Book%20A%20–%20Units%201%20to%204%20%2822pp%29/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/BookAMU1232ndedOU2014/MU123-Book... This is a proper accredited course developed over 50 years or so with its own textbooks and material from a respectable university, not a gamified subscription portal experiment put together by god knows who that can disappear in a puff of smoke at no notice.
- AntoniusBlock 2y ago
  The OU maths books are indeed very good. This is the way to go.
- NlightNFotis 2y ago
  I'm studying the Q31 (BSc Maths) on Open University. I can second this recommendation. The maths books are _excellent_. It's hard to explain how, but let me try: most of the maths textbooks I possess (plenty of them) are written with the assumption that you attend lectures at a classroom and use them for extra material/exercises/reference. The OU books are written with the assumption that you learn from them as the primary material, so they go a lot further with regard to explaining things as well as producing them from first principles.
- rahimnathwani 2y ago
  I just skimmed through MU123. The content and level is somewhere around the level of these two courses on Math Academy: - 5th grade math - prealgebra The book does look high quality. But I'm surprised it covers these fundamentals, given it's for a university course.
inglor_cz 2y ago
I wonder if they could charge lower rates for people who live in poorer parts of the world. $49/month is almost nothing to me now, but it would be prohibitively expensive for a 15 y.o. me in freshly independent Czechia. I suspect it would also be prohibitively expensive for most 15 y.o.s in the developing world today, and these are the guys and gals who stand to gain the most.
- david_allison 2y ago
  It's not just the price. You'll find a number of 15 year olds have no ability to spend money online.
criddell 2y ago
Did you try contacting them and asking for a discount? Sometimes all you have to do is ask.
eps 2y ago
> very expensive I guess it depends on where you are at in the world, but in our neck of the woods $50/month is an absolute bargain compared to using a tutor. Not to mention you get to work at your own pace and to practice spaced repetition consistently.
raincole 2y ago
It is. But I don't think there is an alternative way to make it sustainable. There are just not that many people who are serious about self-education, and you won't like it to cater to the less dedicated customers. > I can't help but feel that the people who would benefit from it the most are also the people least likely to be able to afford it. Even if it were $10/mo, the people who would benefit from it the most (around the world) still can't afford it.

by rcarr 2y ago

8bitsrule 2y ago

[flagged]

ABS 2y ago
you could check the website slightly less quickly and see you can cancel at any time within the first 30 days and get a full refund https://www.mathacademy.com/terms-of-service#cancellation https://www.mathacademy.com/terms-of-service#cancellation It's what I did 10 days ago before deciding to try it out
- lazyasciiart 2y ago
  I don’t trust those plans - it’s easy to forget to cancel it, and most products are simply hoping that you will forget. If I actually think I will want to cancel it, I will not sign up for services with this pattern. It’s a simple rule that saves a lot of mental overhead.
  - ABS 2y ago
    and that is fine, it's your choice but has nothing to do with the other party not offering an option to test, change your mind and not spend money. I personally just put a reminder in my calendar for all such things and be done with it.
  - jv22222 2y ago
    That is not the case with MA they will refund you with a click of a button and it will cost them money since stripe keep their cut and don’t refund it to MA.
tptacek 2y ago
Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
cultofmetatron 2y ago
I use it. the format basicly consists of a list of modules (lessons or reviews) to work though. each lesson module starts with a short test on how to solve the problem it teaches, 1-2 worked problems and 2-3 problesm then more short text on how to solve some variation of the problem coupled with 2 solved problems and 2-3 for you to solve. review modules just give you a few problems to solve. if you can solve 3 without making any mistakes, it will finish the module and you can go tot he next one. every few days you are presented with a quiz that tests what you know and genearates review modules for you to go though before retesting you. overall, it seems spartan but its effective. you spend most of your time actuvly engaing with the problems with just enough information to solve them. the structure of the courses are setup such that you learn and master prerequisites before you are presented a lesson so there isn't much of the frustration you might find where a problem implicitly assumes you know something you don't. That a big reason they start you with a placement test. overall I'd say the $50 price tag is worth it. its very efficient vs reading and working though problem sets where you don't necessarily know what you need to know to solve them. you're not spending time figuring out what your knowledge gaps are as it fulls them in as you go for you.

gen_greyface 2y ago

+1 I wish there was PPP for the subscription, i tried for a few months but stopped the subscription recently.

nsfmc 2y ago

my read as a US person is that math academy is optimized towards students who would otherwise be well served by an in-person supplemental math program. at the earlier grades for math academy (grades 4-5 etc) the main competition i've encountered are in person programs like AoPS, Russian Math, or Kumon. The prices for those range between $450-$100/mo and for a student or student and parent combo that may be looking to supplement their math classes or for somebody who needs to home school for a period of time, mathacademy at $50/mo is a steal.

suncherta 2y ago

The way I come to look on such offers (monthly unlimited subscriptions) is not the net price itself, and not future supposed returns to it (who knows what they be, and they for sure will depend on many other things), but how many hours a week I am willing to spend on that service. If you can and willing dedicate on average 2 hours a day (a big commitment but I think I was able to hold it for several month with them) the cost of mastering, say, Linear Algebra will be ~4 less then if you subscribe and will be spending ~30 minutes a day.

ohgr 2y ago

Go on eBay and buy the following Open University book sets. They go for around £30-50 a pop: MU123 (basics), MST124 (more complex). 6 months worth of study in each book set. If you like it do MST125 (even more complex) and M140 (stats) after. That's the first year of a mathematics degree literally from the ground up through GCSE and A-level stuff. If you really like it, get a student loan and do the associated accredited degree. £30 for 6 months is pretty damn cheap and you get to keep it forever! ebay example of the latest edition for sale: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/197011707080 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/197011707080 On archive.org too if you are happy with PDFs: https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22The+MU123+Course+Team%22 https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22The+MU123+Cour... First MU123 book A: https://archive.org/details/BookAMU1232ndedOU2014/MU123-Book%20A%20–%20Units%201%20to%204%20%2822pp%29/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/BookAMU1232ndedOU2014/MU123-Book... This is a proper accredited course developed over 50 years or so with its own textbooks and material from a respectable university, not a gamified subscription portal experiment put together by god knows who that can disappear in a puff of smoke at no notice.

AntoniusBlock 2y ago
The OU maths books are indeed very good. This is the way to go.
NlightNFotis 2y ago
I'm studying the Q31 (BSc Maths) on Open University. I can second this recommendation. The maths books are _excellent_. It's hard to explain how, but let me try: most of the maths textbooks I possess (plenty of them) are written with the assumption that you attend lectures at a classroom and use them for extra material/exercises/reference. The OU books are written with the assumption that you learn from them as the primary material, so they go a lot further with regard to explaining things as well as producing them from first principles.
rahimnathwani 2y ago
I just skimmed through MU123. The content and level is somewhere around the level of these two courses on Math Academy: - 5th grade math - prealgebra The book does look high quality. But I'm surprised it covers these fundamentals, given it's for a university course.

inglor_cz 2y ago

I wonder if they could charge lower rates for people who live in poorer parts of the world. $49/month is almost nothing to me now, but it would be prohibitively expensive for a 15 y.o. me in freshly independent Czechia. I suspect it would also be prohibitively expensive for most 15 y.o.s in the developing world today, and these are the guys and gals who stand to gain the most.

david_allison 2y ago
It's not just the price. You'll find a number of 15 year olds have no ability to spend money online.

criddell 2y ago

Did you try contacting them and asking for a discount? Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

eps 2y ago

> very expensive I guess it depends on where you are at in the world, but in our neck of the woods $50/month is an absolute bargain compared to using a tutor. Not to mention you get to work at your own pace and to practice spaced repetition consistently.

raincole 2y ago

It is. But I don't think there is an alternative way to make it sustainable. There are just not that many people who are serious about self-education, and you won't like it to cater to the less dedicated customers. > I can't help but feel that the people who would benefit from it the most are also the people least likely to be able to afford it. Even if it were $10/mo, the people who would benefit from it the most (around the world) still can't afford it.