Review of Top Math Sites
By Murray Bourne, 19 Jun 2008
HomeSchool.com recently released their Homeschool.com's Top 100 Educational Web Sites of 2008. There were 7 math sites included in the Top 100.
What makes a Top Math Web Site? To find out, I've had a closer look at the 7 sites that were selected by Homeschool.com.
The following comparison of the sites (in the table, below) considers several factors:
- What is the Content? This is vital for any visitor, of course.
- What Grade levels is the site aimed at?
- Is there real-world context for the math or is it math for math's sake?
- Who is behind the site? In some cases no name or address can be found.
- What does the site sell?
- What are the top keywords for the site's home page? (This helps search engines to determine what the site is about. Determined using SEO Tools - Keyword Density, mostly using 3-word phrases)
- Does the site have valid HTML (if it doesn't, there is a good chance that the site will not display properly on different browsers, different operating systems, and on mobile devices. Determined using W3C's HTML Validator)
- Does the site have valid CSS (same reasons as above - if the CSS is bad, the site can look terrible, or not work at all. Determined using W3Cs CSS Validator)
- How popular is the site? This one is tricky, since there are different ways to measure it. I have included Google's PageRank score (high is good - it means Google knows that many other sites link to the site; maximum is 10), Alexa Rank (lowest is best - this is supposed to be the site's popularity rank, but is skewed due to its non-representative sample), Compete Rank (same concept as Alexa; lowest is best)
The original list of math sites on Homeschool.com did not appear to be in any particular order. I have ranked the sites, based on what I believe to be important in a math Website, which is as follows:
- Quality of content and context for the math
- Value to students (which I regard as having greater importance than a site's value to teachers, or parents in the case of homeschooling, since we are trying to develop in our students some self-learning skills and life-long learning skills)
- Web standards (how well is the site designed? Is it future-proof?)
Of course, I have kept in mind the needs of home-schoolers in my comparison.
At the bottom of the table, I have included a similar analysis of my own site, Interactive Mathematics, for comparison. (It was not included in Homeschool.com's list)
I hope you find the following information useful.
[Information as at June 2008.]
1. Ask Dr. Math
| Content | Elementary School Middle School High School College & Beyond |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | K to 15+ |
| Real-world Context | Possibly, depends on the student's question |
| Who | Originally Swarthmore College, now 300 volunteer 'Doctors' from all over the world |
| Sells | Dr Math books
Tutor.com |
| Top 5 Keywords | the math forum ask dr math algebra dr math dr math explains explains algebra dr |
| Valid HTML | No (14 errors) |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 8 |
| Alexa | 11000 |
| Compete | 3000 |
| Comments | Searchable database of questions with solutions. Students are directed to Tutor.com if they "can't wait" for an answer. |
2. Purple Math
| Content | Good explanations on a wide range of topics: Preliminary Topics Beginning Algebra Intermediate Algebra Advanced Algebra Solving Word Problems |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | 5 to 12 |
| Real-world Context | Some - in the word problems |
| Who | Elizabeth Stapel |
| Sells | CD of whole site for sale at nominal $10. |
| Top 5 Keywords | lessons are written student in mind pointing out common help you find written with the |
| Valid HTML | No (11 errors) |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 26000 |
| Compete | 8000 |
| Comments | Very slowpage load time for several pages on the site.
I tried again at different times of the day over a few days and page loads over 1 minute were common. |
3. Math Goodies
| Content | Easy to understand lessons on: Perimeter & Area of Polygons Circumference & Area of Circles Number Theory Decimals More On Decimals Understanding Percent Percent Applications Integers Probability Topics in Pre-Algebra Data and Graphs Introduction to Statistics Symbolic Logic Includes worksheets and puzzles |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | 4 to 8 |
| Real-world Context | Limited (eg Statistics section) |
| Who | Gisele Glosser |
| Sells | CD of whole site - around US$50. |
| Top 5 Keywords | help since 1998 our free newsletter goodies interactive math interactive math help math goodies interactive |
| Valid HTML | No (15 errors) |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 47000 |
| Compete | 11000 |
| Comments | Has a popular newsletter.
Lessons are in HTML format and open in any browser. Most of the content is on the CD, not on the site. |
4. Math Playground
| Content | "Play with numbers and give your brain a workout". Fun atmosphere. Topics: Math games Word problems Logic puzzles Math videos |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | K-8 |
| Real-world Context | No |
| Who | "...teachers who are passionionate about math and technology" No names given, no address given |
| Sells | Advertising |
| Top 5 Keywords | welcome to math middle school students elementary and middle games math site for elementary math games math word problems |
| Valid HTML | No (22 errors) |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 116000 |
| Compete | 18000 |
| Comments | Some good activities - but where do you input your function in the function example? Claims to be a "safe site" |
5. The Math Worksheet Site
| Content | Worksheets on: Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Mixed Problems Fractions Measurement Graphing Telling Time One Hundred Chart |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | K to 6 |
| Real-world Context | No |
| Who | Scott Bryce |
| Sells | Subscriptions for a greater variety of worksheets than the free version |
| Top 5 Keywords | math worksheet site the math worksheet single digit horizontal 5 minute drill digit horizontal single |
| Valid HTML | Yes |
| Valid CSS | No (1 error, 19 warnings) |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 240000 |
| Compete | 47000 |
| Comments | User is able to create printable worksheets (PDF) after choosing certain parameters.
Can this promote drill and kill? |
6. Web Math
| Content | Has an online algebra solver. No content as such. Solver is optimised for: General Math K-8 Math Algebra Plots & Geometry Trig. & Calculus |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | K to 12 |
| Real-world Context | No |
| Who | None given No address given |
| Sells | Advertising |
| Top 5 Keywords | help you solve your math problem lines the equation data analysis finding numbers number line convert to a |
| Valid HTML | No (4 errors) |
| Valid CSS | No (3 errors, 23 warnings) |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 50000 |
| Compete | 15000 |
| Comments | Solver can deliver unsatisfactory results. For example, it will spend several lines to multiply 5 by a.
Also, how well do these solvers help students to learn? |
7. Mega- Mathematics
(It seems this has disappeared.)
| Content | Difficult to determine from the home page. The topics in the graphic are: The Most Colorful Math of All Welcome to the Hotel Infinity Games on Graphs A Usual Day at Unusual School Untangling the Mathematics of Knots Algorithms and Ice Cream for All Machines the Eat Your Words |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | Appears to be for teachers - Contains lesson plans (that are devoid of objectives, context, year level, etc) |
| Real-world Context | Difficult to determine - doesn't appear to have |
| Who | "A project of the Computer Research and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory;
classroom teachers, mathematicians, students in education and computer science, elementary school and high school students, school administrators, computer scientists, parents..." |
| Sells | Nil - government site |
| Top 5 Keywords | this is mega is mega mathematics |
| Valid HTML | No (4 errors) |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 6 |
| Alexa | 26000 |
| Compete | 14000 |
| Comments | Home page has unattractive image map for navigation. Site appears stuck in a 1995 time-warp. Takes a lot of digging to find anything - navigation is poor. Purpose and audience is unclear. |
Interactive Mathematics
| Content | Algebra Money Trigonometry Graphs Complex Probability Differentiation Integration Higher Calculus |
|---|---|
| Grade Level | 8 to early college |
| Real-world Context | Yes |
| Who | Murray Bourne |
| Sells | Advertising |
| Top 5 Keywords | play with it math while you interactive mathematics math interactive mathematics learn mathematics learn math |
| Valid HTML | Yes |
| Valid CSS | Yes |
| Page Rank | 5 |
| Alexa | 91000 |
| Compete | 83000 |
| Comments | Interactive games and exploratory activities to enhance math lessons. Has a popular blog and a newsletter. |
See the 5 Comments below.
