This App Will Do Your Math Homework For You

I’m not that far removed from my last math class, and I was pretty good at it back then, but I barely remember what the equations in this demo video are trying to express, let alone how to solve them. But this is the future, and retaining what you learn isn’t important anymore.

Meet Mathpix, an app that solves complicated math problems, even hand-written ones, just by snapping a picture of them. Nicolas Jimenez started working on it while he was a math Ph.D. student at Stanford and now it’s ready to render high school homework assignments obsolete.

Granted, the app provides step-by-step instructions after spitting out the solution, which sounds useful for double-checking work after the fact—but it’s hard to imagine how this won’t force schools to adjust their approach to math teaching and testing since a source in high school (okay, my little brother) tells me phones are only confiscated for AP exams, not normal classroom tests.

But even if you’re not learning, at least the app will be. According to an email Jimenez sent the “algorithms get smarter over time as we get data from users.”

Still, if you’re reading this, kids, stay in school. Someone will have to build the next generation of apps.