FluidMath is an application that solves hand-written math expressions, and after working with a demo version of FM for the last ten days, I’m very impressed. Although it is clearly a work in progress, the debut version is quite capable and the developers, Fluidity Software, make it clear that improvements are planned. The user interface (UI) is pleasingly uncluttered and the visible workspace is large, making FM useful even on some of the newer small tablet platforms that have limited screen space. Further, tabs provide easy accessibility to individual workspace pages in which to collect specific calculations. FM’s near real time character recognition works smoothly and provides very timely feedback so that errors can be quickly corrected. Working in combination with a scribble feature to delete characters, corrections can be made on the spot as they occur, creating immediate confidence in FM’s operation and the resulting solution. In addition, FM provides the ability to fine-tune the recognition engine by allowing the user to designate a preferred recognition character for a particular written input. In my experience, this is somewhat unique. FM also has an automated plotting feature that is easy to use and incorporates an admirable number of plotting options. The development team is to be congratulated for creating such a robust and flexible recognition engine and UI.
The screen shot above shows how a numerical problem might be solved and how another problem might be plotted. In each case, the blue characters show that FM has correctly interpreted the hand-written math. Plots are created using an arc-like gesture as shown in the second problem. When the plot appears, the arc disappears. Some videos that provide a better sense of how the UI works can be found here .
This second screenshot shows a sampling of the range of problems that FluidMath can currently solve. Note that FM can produce symbolic as well as numerical results. Pretty impressive!
Of course, there are some things that warrant improvement. The current User’s Guide and other documentation isn’t too bad, but with a few additions and revisions, it could be greatly improved. In particular, FM has a clever animation feature; but it’s not well documented and is therefore not overly easy to use. Also, I encountered some recalcitrant recognition issues with some specialized math operations (for example, absolute value: | -3 | ; the recognition engine kept giving me 1 -31). Given the complexity of recognizing the wide variety of math notation, such issues are not unexpected. The developers are aware of these and other minor bugs and I assume that fixes and improvements will be forthcoming.
Finally, there is the issue of price. FluidMath was conceived as a classroom teaching tool, and so it is offered with either an annual, renewable license which allows the user to upgrade as new versions are developed, or with a “perpetual” license (at a much higher price) that allows the user to update a fixed version with bug fixes but does not allow access to newer versions of the application. Neither of these approaches is likely to be too attractive to the private user, but company users may find it acceptable. Despite this, readers who have a need to do general math on a daily basis should give Fluid Math’s demo a try. It can be pretty addictive! FluidMath
What kind of tablet/computer did you use the software on?
Hi, Brian:
…I hosted the demo application (Version 1.0.11) on my trusty (but old) HP TC1100. FM worked fine and I was able to thoroughly explore its capabilities.
Since the demo I have decided to track FM’s development for a year or two and so have signed up for an annual license. The current release version is, interestingly, Ver 1.0.8; however it seems to work fine. This time, I decided to host FM on my Asus EP121. Again, everything appears to work OK, although I avoid UI problems by disabling Touch during my FM sessions.
If you are new to math recognition, you might also take a look at xThink’s MathJournal at www(dot) xThink (dot) com . MathJournal is about 5 years old, but it has a wider span of math coverage and it is less than half of FM’s cost.
I recently saw a demonstration of FluidMath at a conference I attended. I can see many ways that FluidMath can be used, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I would love it for:
– one-on-one tutoring
– planning a lesson with visuals
– solving math problems while working independently (like,
on homework or on a job)
– providing an answer key for a test
– use as a CAS system
– to create interactive lessons for students
Although it is an incredible presentation tool, I can foresee some difficulties conducting a class in which students were expected to take notes.
The difficulty comes in because the teacher can put things on the board much faster than students can take notes.
Then, if a teacher wants to explore what happens when you change the 2 to a 4, so he makes the change in a second and everything on the screen changes. Even if the teacher provides a print-out of the screen, the results of the first problem on the board (before the change) are lost.
Now, I’ve never actually used the software, and current users might think that I’m way off base. I’d be interested in feedback from people who use it specifically to teach live lessons to find out if any of what I’ve thought about is an issue.
Hi, David: You’ve asked some good questions, but the chances of anyone who frequents this site being able to answer them is probably not too high. For one thing, the software seems fairly new, so the number of classroom examples available for discussion are probably small and held by a select group of people. However, perhaps someone will comment.
Speaking as a person who uses FM for every-day use (as opposed to teaching), I can say that I’ve been pretty happy with the software so far. I sometimes experience recognition problems that even the recognition preference menu can’t solve (because the correct character isn’t on the menu, but the near-realtime feedback keeps that kind of thing to a minimum. I’ll definitely keep using FluidMath for a year or two (maybe longer if the upgrades happen at reasonable intervals).
Regarding your question: “…if a teacher wants to explore what happens when you change the 2 to a 4…” Perhaps the answer is that a short video clip would be more appropriate than a (static) hardcopy of the screen at some point? The nice thing about FM is that it works pretty fast, so a video would not need to be drawn out…
Finally, there’s really nothing like hands-on experience when pondering tools like this; I suggest that you contact Fluidity and ask for a demo copy of FM…