While much time and visibility is given to iPhone game applications, there is another side to the handheld device – an educational one. In particular, many students have found success in learning valuable math skills in a fun way using iPhone math apps.
One of the things that has caused their rise in popularity with so many iPhone math apps available is their format – they are in a much more appealing visual format, and users who are comfortable with the iPhone interface easily transfer that feeling to using some of the iPhone math apps available to develop mathematical proficiency. Sometimes the line between game and math app gets blurred, as children and students alike get involved in a math ‘game’ and before they know it they are a better mathematician for it.
There are scores of math applications to choose from. One of the more basic iPhone math apps that is often used is Math Magic. Math Magic has an appealing interface, while teaching basic skills that are the fundamental building blocks for math: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. When you get an answer correct, you are rewarded with a celebratory noise. Even if you get it wrong, you get words of encouragement to help you move ahead.
Another iPhone math app from well-known children’s company Leap Frog is Number Rumble. One of the few games laid out in landscape format, this app plays out the math problems in a kind of slot-machine like format. You shake the machine, and when all the numbers settle into their respective slots, you turn a wheel to select the correct answer.
But the iPhone math apps aren’t just for young children. Many of the games are for young adults and grownups as well. WolframAlpha is an extremely handy little math tool to have in your iPhone tool belt. Whether you need to calculate a complicated integral or solve a cubic equation, this is one of the best iPhone math apps available. This app covers the spectrum of math needs, ranging all the way from simple math, to calculus and even physics.
For the geometry students in the house, the math app du jour seems to be Appolonius. With fantastic visuals, you can construct for yourself any geometric shape and adjust the angles and proportions as you need to.
Probably one of the most used iPhone math apps is the Calcbot. Like a calculator, but in Apple style so much more. Unlike the basic calculator the iPhone is installed with, it is able to perform more scientific functions which you can store, record and then send back to yourself if you like. If you’re into bells and whistles, it’s also got some great animation and even sound.
You may want to take some time and peruse the app store for the countless (well, unless you have your Calcbot of course) iPhone math apps that are provided for the iPhone. If you need to calculate it, chances are that Apple has a fun, easy, and visually appealing way to do it.
