Step by Step - Algorithms that teach you math!
summary
Open-source mathsteps is a JavaScript library that parses ASCII math into a parse tree, flattens associative operators to make combining like terms easy, and applies explicit rule-based rewrites to produce stepwise simplifications. It groups sequences like adding fractions into grouped substeps so intermediate, nonmonotonic work appears as a single pedagogical action. Used inside Socratic’s app and with community contributors, it demonstrates a workable teaching-focused CAS design and exposes where heuristics and personalization still break or need more data.
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chapters (22)
- 0:00Introduction
- 7:56Building the Algorithm
- 13:51Simplifying
- 16:00Tree searches
- 17:46Simplification
- 19:20Detail
- 20:37Complexity
- 22:24Collapse
- 23:06Limitations
- 23:37How many steps do you show
- 24:22Different people solve math differently
- 26:13Teaching to help learning
- 27:10Not a full teaching tool
- 28:17Adding fractions
- 29:18How much detail
- 30:09Get more context
- 30:46More information
- 32:06Machine Learning
- 32:43Open Source
- 33:55Community
- 34:12Demo
- 34:36Outro
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