Three things just got easier: cheating, being an uneducated American, and convincing your parents your life calling is journalism.
Let’s face it: for the majority of us (that’s over 50 percent, right?) math is hard. We simply "can’t even" — and considering our phones already do everything else for us, it was only a matter of time before our smartphones surrogated yet another region of our brains.
Enter PhotoMath, a new app that solves equations and even shows work for you with just the click of a button. All you have to do is take a photo of the problem, send it in, and it does the math for you instantaneously — thus saving you from the embarrassment of failing a pre-calc class probably taught to middle school kids and Chinese infants.
Answering a math equation with a tech application is nothing new; WolframAlpha has been helping us through intro college math homework for a while now; however, typing an entire math equation in WolframAlpha’s app is a time-consuming ordeal. With the seconds ticking down, we needed something faster …
So next time the professor drops a pop-quiz on your hungover, degenerate ass … simply point your phone camera at a math equation and ‘shoot it,’ the results are calculated and shown instantly.
MicroBlink, the startup behind PhotoMath, is a text recognition technology company. The company worked a lot on accuracy and speed so that scanning text only takes you seconds, according to Techcrunch.
The app even supports quadratic equations, inequalities and most other things the average zitty 14-year-old could muster.
PhotoMath also has a feature allowing users to view the step-by-step process used to solve the particular equation, meaning ‘show your work’ just got a lot easier.
Is this cheating? Sort of. Could we use PhotoMath ‘step-by-step’ guide as a how-to tutorial? Sure. We could also drink less homemade Zima, exercise and eat a portion of a vegetable. C’est la vie.
So far, the app has accumulated 11 million downloads on iOS and Windows Phone, according to Techrunch, and in one month alone, PhotoMath was used to solve over 8 million math problems for people like you and us who failed Algebra 14 times before we realized our life calling was journalism.
A pro-tip to leave you with: Next time you’re dazed in the dastardly mind-fuck that is basic mathematics, just reach for the smartphone, but remember to leave one or two questions wrong on that pop quiz so the professor doesn’t get too suspicious about your sudden glowing brilliance.
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