Show HN: A whiteboard that writes math equations

by Ilaskyon 9/9/2024, 12:23 PMwith 50 comments

by jpl56on 9/13/2024, 8:50 AM

Nice tool! I like the human like handwriting, but I'd prefer a more adult one.

Writing the denominator first looks weird to me, same as writing the square root symbol after what's under it.

by lionkoron 9/13/2024, 4:00 PM

The handwriting really goes out of the window with a query like

> what is the derivative of e^-x?

It does a good job, but man is it hard to read

by hardlianotionon 9/13/2024, 2:26 PM

Very cool. Could do with training on some decent handwriting

by withinrafaelon 9/13/2024, 5:24 PM

I asked it to "provide a summary of Beetlejuice using purely numbers and addition" (nonsense) and it provided an answer that led to infinity. Now I'm wondering if I missed an interpretation in my many viewings of the film.

by loxiason 9/13/2024, 3:40 PM

This is really fun. Multiple questions seem to yield a blank page, does this mean it's hugged to death, or are my questions too difficult? :)

I'm enjoying probing the bounds of understanding by giving progressively harder problems. It found the roots of a cubic, and proved sqrt(2) and pi were irrational.

Too difficult to read the handwriting, and I'm curious about "how it works". All in all, a fantastic demo.

by langcsson 9/13/2024, 7:10 AM

I asked it to prove Fermats Last Theorem and it started writing (some nonsense) into the margin. Which was funnny.

Cool project tho

by Ilaskyon 9/9/2024, 12:23 PM

I was inspired by https://calligrapher.ai to see if I can make something that looks similar to it, but for math.

I ended up hooking up an LLM on the backend to solve math problems as well.

This ended up being more of an exploration in trying to make alternative outputs for LLMs that are a little more dynamic than just text and/or LaTeX.

by gus_massaon 9/10/2024, 6:44 PM

It looks almost like my handwriting :).

It's interesting that each time it shows a different variant.

Anyway, when I press "get the derivative of f(x)=x^2" I get

              2-1
  f'(x) = 2 x
but the 1 is too big. (Do you need a screenshot?)

by tempfileon 9/13/2024, 9:30 AM

Why does it write like it's having a stroke?

by zamadatixon 9/13/2024, 5:06 PM

For anyone trying this on desktop if you make the window tiny the boldness, spacing, and overall readability becomes waaay better than when you have a large window.

by samschooleron 9/13/2024, 7:27 PM

Made a lil script to compare the endpoint response vs the whiteboard. https://gist.github.com/samschooler/2b2831f232339a9d747934b7...

Just run: #./solve.js "What is the answer to life, the universe, everything?"

by p0w3n3don 9/13/2024, 1:57 PM

It solved `(x^2-1)/(x-1)` to `x+1` but it is not equal. It should be specified that `x` must not be equal 1 in this case.

by renerickon 9/13/2024, 12:28 PM

Fun project, although it does seem to struggle with writing the longer it goes https://imgur.com/TntAViO

by InDubioProRubioon 9/13/2024, 7:44 AM

HNug of Death atm, but cool idea. Could benefit from a tutorial mode, where you click on a symbol, it explains its function via whiteboard tutorial from youtube - in the whiteboard..

by dzinkon 9/13/2024, 5:02 PM

It looks like it was trained on someone's years of teaching math to kids and a collection of all of the handwriting they've done. Looks like, but not sure if it is.

by filipeishoon 9/13/2024, 2:10 PM

What are you using to make handwritten text? Is it a model?

by godelskion 9/13/2024, 5:50 PM

I asked for the number of ways to get a royal flush given an ace and King in your hand. It told me 4

by Solopreneur427on 9/13/2024, 11:18 PM

Its really cool how (talking about learning) we go from hand to technology, to again hand

by haskmanon 9/13/2024, 9:23 AM

Tried "what is (x-2-1)/(x-1)?" and got absolute gibberish in return

by ThefinalResulton 9/13/2024, 6:43 PM

I wrote: Write the gamma function and explain it's relationship to erfi

I got: Nothing

by kleibaon 9/13/2024, 8:43 AM

A bit too sloppy and a bit too slow for my taste, but otherwise great!

by jv22222on 9/13/2024, 8:50 PM

IMHO the writing animation should run about 4x that speed.

by donq1xote1on 9/13/2024, 11:54 AM

This sounds very interesting! I will check it out.

by lanstinon 9/13/2024, 3:04 PM

Wow, it can do ODEs. Pretty awesome.

by viveknathani_on 9/13/2024, 4:23 PM

this is extremely cool and useful.

by mdrznon 9/13/2024, 12:34 PM

Very cool project!

by insane_dreameron 9/13/2024, 5:16 PM

math prof handwriting checks out ;)