I am very pleased to announce that we have released a new version of the free Maple Companion app. For those you may have missed it, the first release of this app gave you a way to take a picture of math using your phone’s camera and upload it into Maple. Instructors have told me they’ve found this very useful in their classes, as they no longer have to deal with transcription errors as students enter problems into Maple.

So that’s good. But version 2 is a lot better. The Maple Companion now solves math problems directly on your phone. It can handle problems from algebra, precalculus, calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and more. No need to upload to Maple – students can solve the problem by hand, and then use the app to check their answer, try new operations on the same expression, and even create plots. And if they want to do even more, they can still upload the expression into Maple for more advanced operations and explorations.

There’s also a built-in math editor, so you can enter problems without the camera, too. And if you use the camera, and it misinterprets part of your expression, you can fix it using the editor instead of having to retake the picture.  Good as the math recognition is, even in the face of some pretty poor handwriting, the ability to tweak the results has proven to be extremely useful.

There’s lots more we’d like to do with the Maple Companion app over time, and we’d like hear your thoughts, as well. How else can it help students learn?  How else can it act as a complement to Maple? Let us know!

Visit Maple Companion to learn more, find links to the app stores so you can download the app, and access the feedback form. And if you already have version 1, you can get the new release simply by updating the app on your phone.