Vietnamese app solves math questions within seconds

03:06, 14/06/2018

The PhotoSolver app was created by GotIt!, founded by its CEO Tran Viet Hung.

PhotoSolver instructs users to solve problems step by step

The PhotoSolver app was created by GotIt!, founded by its CEO Tran Viet Hung.

Users connect the app with a smartphone camera and take pictures of the math questions. The AI (artificial intelligence) of the app will then give exact answers to the questions.

AI will also instruct users to solve problems step by step from start to finish. Users will be able to understand the problems as if they are listening to explanations from teachers.

AI not only can recognize print letters in books, but also handwriting, including poor handwriting.

To test the recognition ability of the app, Hung wrote "x" in two different ways in the same equation. He also wrote number ‘1’ in two ways, including a simple ‘1’ and a number 1 with underlining, but these all could be identified.

Asked how he developed AI for PhotoSolver, Hung said the app would be developed in a way so that AI can teach mathematics.

GotIt! is among the most successful and best known startups in Vietnam. The app for the education sector created by Hung in 2013 has won many awards.

It received $15 million worth of investment from leading investment funds in Silicon Valley.

In mid-2016, local newspapers reported that GotIt!, an app allowing users, primarily students, to pick the brains of experts for ten minutes raised over $9 million in Series A and Seed funding.

Soon after launching, GotIt! added its name to the top apps in the App Store in the US and became a favorite education app.

GotIt! helps connect mentors and learners who can seek help from experts and teachers on GotIt! to solve their questions.

Hung admitted that there are limitations to PhotoSolver. It can only solve formulas such as equations. The questions with long text or unformulated arithmetic problems still cannot be solved by PhotoSolver’s AI.

Like other AIs, GotIt! is still developing, PhotoSolver needs improvement step by step. For example, the chat between AI and users needs to be more lively. When AI solves questions step by step, if users don’t understand something, AI needs to cite knowledge in textbooks to help users understand the problem.

“The problems sound simple, but it will take one year to deal with them,” Hung said.

By that time, PhotoSolver’s AI will not only help solve math problems, but act as teachers or tutors who give knowledge related to the exercises.

(Source: VNN)