One of the hardest questions for many math teachers to answer in a way that is relevant to students is: “why do I need to know this?” “For the next course you take”, the easiest answer in many cases, does not answer the question that was usually being asked.
My answers to this question obviously depend on the topic being studied at moment, and I don’t have “good” answers for all topics… but here is my list of key quantitative life skills I learned directly or indirectly from math class, with
Welcome to the short introduction of the options and possibilities in our loved and cherished web app. Of course, this cannot be the final list, since from the very first day it faced the web’s daylight, our team has been trying to make it better and the efforts are not unnoticed, thanks to you.
Getting started
First of all, it is created for taking math notes. If you just want to check this out, you can choose Guest Access and log in and save it later. If you need a serious and smart notebook, log in with your Google account and all the notes you write will be saved to your Google Drive.
Creating a note
How? The answer is: easily. Press the New note button in the Notes section of the app, once you are logged in.
It will open the editor.
The Mathist editor
Start writing
Depending on what you want to write, click on one of these from the bottom right corner: Drawing (The Mathist will offer you a pencil and an ereaser, for the beginning), Text (use your devices keyboard to type common text, definitions etc) or f(x) for adding formulas. The last one will open our keyboard, optimized for mathematics.
The picture shows buttons for inserting a Drawing, Text and Formula field, respectively
This picture represents the keyboard for the Drawing field when a pencil is selected.
Keyboard
One of the main advantages in The Mathist is keyboard which opens when using the formula field. Unique and recently updated, it is meant to be easy to use and effective. Above the standard QWERTY keyboard, there are two additional rows: one with the numbers and the other with most common mathematical signs. Through this and other formulas mentioned later in the text, you can navigate by arrows on the right. The small button in the bottom left corner offers the possibility to choose between QWERTY and Greek keyboard (lowercase and uppercase).
Inserting a predefined formula
We offer you auto complete feature: start typing the name of what you need and choose the right formula from the drop-down list that will appear. For example, when you type the letter i in the formula field, this list opens up:
Here we choose the Integral from the list and in spite of the typed letter, the symbol appears:
First you are offered to add the limits of the integral, but if you do not feel like it, move through the formula using left or right arrow.
Using Wolfram|Alpha in The Mathist
Once you entered an expression in the formula field, use the Select button and then the following will happen:
To solve or simplify the expression using Wolfram|Alpha, press the light bulb and choose between or any combination of what The Mathist offers you:
Note that what is offered depends on the kind of expression you entered.
After choosing all of them, for example, this is what appears in the editor:
Deleting a formula or some of its content
For deleting the whole formula field, press the red x in the corner of the formula and for deleting part of it, use the backspace button from your device or use ours.
Saving note
If you are logged in, your note will be automatically saved to your Google Drive. On the other hand, if you are not logged in, in order to save the note click on the Log in & save button. Once you are logged in, it will be automatically saved.
Nowadays, Google Drive means a great opportunity for teachers and students to embrace the 4Cs of 21st century education – communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.
We found this really inspirational and creative pin-board that illustrates some of the best ways to use technology to your advantage in the classroom:
Lets dive into the features that can boost your productivity and help you seize the day with your students. We promise it is going to be easy and fun. Here are some good practical suggestions on how to use Google Drive in your classroom.
We strongly believe that such technologies will transform the ways we teach, study and work together. That is why The Mathist from now on uses Google Drive to store all your mathematical notes enabling you to organize, share, tag and search through them easily, so you can reach Zen in your classroom. 🙂
The Mathist 