Math is beautiful and tremendously powerful in the hands of experts. On the other hand, to novices, math is frustrating and HARD....All those rules to memorize. All those steps to write and keep track of.

In a world where technology has advanced at astonishing rates, the technology of math notation hasn’t really changed in 400 years. The easiest way to write and solve an equation is still by hand, on paper.

For a few years, a group of us—math educators, psychologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists—have been imagining ways to reconstruct the idea of formal notation by using digital technology. We think it’s time to apply modern design approaches to build more intuitive and fluid interfaces for math. We want tools that scaffold experiences of algebraic structure, support genuine inquiry about how math works, and give people opportunities to reason flexibly about mathematics.