Stars: 1.5

They’re all over Twitter: links to math apps that will supposedly do homework and help raise GPAs. But PhotoMath doesn’t get the job done.

PhotoMath is an app that uses a phone’s camera to scan a math problem that it then solves. However, the app has multiple problems.

When first opened, the app directly goes to a quick tutorial.  After moving past the tutorial, the screen shows a one-time disclaimer—the scanner only works with typed problems. This prevents the app from working on any handwritten problems, story problems or any involving tables or graphs.

The disclaimer also states the app cannot solve quadratic equations, functional equations, systems or calculus. Also, despite saying so, PhotoMath struggles to read any problems with radicals or fractional exponents. The only math it can help a high schooler with is basic algebra.

Another problem is how touchy the scanner is. The camera has to get a perfect focus on the problem. Even then it still struggles with certain characters. For example, the only variable it has successfully scanned was a t. It couldn’t even read an x.

When the camera finally does scan the problem, it usually reads it incorrectly. When given the problem 7x+12=47, it gave four possible results. This makes using the app slow and tedious work.

However, if one manages to get the problem scanned correctly, the answer will pop up right away, along with the steps used to get there. This feature helps teach users how to do a certain type of problem by the time test day arrives. However, sometimes the answer isn’t even right and has to be double-checked.

Overall, PhotoMath is an unreliable, annoying app that fails to make homework quick and easy as it promises. It takes so long to get just one problem done that students are better off doing their homework on their own.

Credits:

PhotoMath;PhotoPay Ltd.; Oct. 17; Free; Apple and Android (coming soon)