Photomath: An ongoing debate

I downloaded Photomath last week, hoping it will help me when I’m stuck on a question. 

Some background: I am not super strong at math, but enjoy figuring out the answers. This last week, I tried to help some students with trig questions, and I was lost as I haven’t worked on trig in probably 10+ years. Afterwards, I downloaded Photomath.

I know this app has been discussed in past ETEC 523 posts, with people debating its usefulness for students at home vs. the risk that students use it to do all their work and not actually learn the math.

In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the risks. For example, I remember being 15 and stuck on math questions at home. The frustration that came from that likely limited my interest in continuing maths at higher levels. I believe any app supporting those seeking help is a great tool. Students can indeed use this app to skip learning how to do the math; however, they can also copy the answers off of a friend like students always have.

What do you guys think? Is this a valuable tool to show students, or do the risks outweigh the benefits?


( Average Rating: 5 )

2 responses to “Photomath: An ongoing debate”

  1. Devon Bobowski

    I’m a math teacher, and I find there is considerable resistance to progressive movements in math teaching, regarding technology or otherwise. Often these debates come from outsiders (parents, other teachers) who have no particular interest in or use for math. That being said, here’s my take:

    Fundamentally, if something like photomath compromises tasks set for students, there is something flawed in the task or expectations for students. It’s much like having the answers in the back of a textbook: they help to self-asses when students working on challenging problems. It’s entirely possible in math work to get to a point where one is stuck, or has what seems to be a solution but is incorrect; having the answers or a step by step solution provides a method to diagnose where problems are occurring. Unfortunately, many students don’t have the understanding that math homework is meant to practice and refine skills, not simply to complete a task to make the teacher happy, and with this mindset, the use of solution programs to cheat is concern. Better solution is probably to help students arrive at a more nuanced understanding of homework.

    There’s a great presentation by Conrad Wolfram here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYONRn3EbYY

    The TLDR is historically, the limiting factor in working with math was complex calculations, so math education focused on that. Computers make the calculation part much less important, so math education should be moving towards areas of finding problems, modeling and interpreting results, rather than focusing on making students second rate calculators.


    ( 2 upvotes and 0 downvotes )
  2. Jennie Jiang

    Hi Elvio, I think you made a great point here. The worry for cheating with PhotoMath only comes with the need for cheating in the first place. As you said, students could easily find someone who has the answer and simply copy their homework, which happens regardless of PhotoMath. My concern with PhotoMath is finding out the answer too quickly without trying or proper problem-solving thinking. I think once one knows there is a tool that could easily solve the question for you (and considering how impatient we are becoming in this fast-paced tech-driven world), it takes a lot of self-control (or passion in math!) to stop one from putting those equations in the app.

    But overall, I think it is a great tool. There is misuse for any technology out there. But for those that will be using it to their benefit, it is truly beneficial to have something in your hand that could give you a solution right away, eliminating the hassle of reaching out for solutions or researching for it (which can be discouraging in learning at times). Thank you for sharing!


    ( 1 upvotes and 0 downvotes )

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