# Friday math movie: Math comes to life

By Murray Bourne, 11 Nov 2011

I want one of these!

In this video, assistant professor, Joseph LaViola, of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at University of Central Florida demonstrates an interactive tool which cleverly animates objects like springs and cars, as well as math equations to "help students grasp math concepts".

He calls it "math sketching" and it's a great example of an interactive notebook.

When can I order one?

### 12 Comments on “Friday math movie: Math comes to life”

1. Jesse Benton says:

Please tell me, assistant professor, where can I buy such software? Is there a version on the iPad?

Jesse

2. Murray says:

@Jesse: No details on this yet - let me know if you find out anything!

3. Philip Petrov says:

The hand-writing recognition of formulas is more interesting to me here...

4. Murray says:

@Philip: Yes, I also think that is a good feature. MS Math also can do it. See MS Math 4.0.

5. SFdude says:

The tool is called:
a prototype / experimental Tablet PC application for mathematical problem solving.

The keyword here is: "prototype",
"not widely available to us, mere mortals (yet)...".

[No longer available]

Unfortunately, the most recent web page update
was in Sept/2006...
Will we ever get to play with this?...

This is an excellent opportunity to get a tool like this,
out of the rarefied halls of academia,
and into the PCs of many interested people.

Hello, innovative web / software developers,
- are you listening?

6. Murray says:

@SFdude: Thanks for the information. I'm surprised how old the references are. Does this mean they have moved on...? But then again, they made the video recently...?

7. Nash Shrestha says:

That is so incredible!!! I want that so badly!

8. Todd Kelman says:

@Murray: Mathpad2 was his PhD thesis @ Brown, and now he's continuing the work as a professor @ UCF (you can see the latest from his lab here: http://www.eecs.ucf.edu/isuelab/research/pen.php)

9. Murray says:

@Todd: Thanks! Good to know he's still working on this. Hopefully he'll commercialize it someday soon. I'd say there is a market!

10. Ebenezer updike odoom says:

if mathematics were to be taught this way, as it has been illustrated, then the reading of mathematics would be as interesting as reading Shakespeare's books.

11. D Ducoff says:

This product is now available at
http://www.fluiditysoftware.com

12. Murray says:

Any chance of a Mac and/or iPad version anytime soon...?

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