I’m very pleased to announce that we have just released the Maple Companion mobile app for iOS and Android phones. As its name implies, this free app is a complement to Maple. You can use it to take pictures of math you find out in the wild (e.g. in your handwritten notes, on a blackboard, in a textbook), and bring that math into Maple so you can get to work.

The Maple Companion lets you:

• Avoid the mistakes that can occur when transcribing mathematical expressions into Maple manually
• Save time when entering multiple equations into Maple, such as when you are checking your homework or pulling information from a reference book
• Push math you’ll need later into Maple now, even if you don’t have your computer handy

The Maple Companion is an idea we started playing with recently. We believe it has interesting potential as a tool to help students learn math, and we’d really like your feedback to help shape its future direction. This first release is a step towards that goal, so you can try it out and start thinking about what else you would like to see from an app like this. Should it bring in entire documents? Integrate with tutors and Math Apps? Help students figure out where they went wrong when solving a problem? Let us know what you think!

Visit Maple Companion to learn more, link to the app stores so you can download the app, and access the feedback form. And of course, you are also welcome to give us your ideas in the comment section of this post.