Reference
Title: Hands-on math: a page-based multi-touch and pen desktop for technical work and problem solving
Author: Robert Zeleznik, Andrew Bragdon, Ferdi Adeputra, and Hsu-Sheng Ko
Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
Summary
This paper details the use of multi-touch technology in teaching algebra. Students use a stylus to write equations, which they can then manipulate using a touch screen interface. Dragging to terms in an equation together will simplify them, while moving a term to the other side of an equation will either add/subtract it, or divide/multiply as appropriate. Additionally, users can create multiple pages and access them like they would on a real table.
Discussion
I liked this idea, as I know my work has a tendency to be hard to read when I am working math problems, especially if I make mistakes. This system would of course not allow students to make mistakes, but it would also keep the work tidy. Unfortunately in its current form the technology is really only applicable to high school students, as algebra is very basic math (even basic calculus is second nature to most computer oriented majors I think). I suspect that for this technology to have an impact on college level math or even Jr and Senior level high school math that the software will have to evolve significantly. It would be interesting however if the table was able to incorporate elements from say matlab along with text recognition from a stylus in order to make an easy to use interface capable of advanced calculus and Laplace/Fourier transforms. Such technology would be applicable even in the business environment.
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