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by commandersaki 249 days ago
Red flags of Math Academy:

- Centred around AI

- Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)

Green flags for Napkin:

- Covers advanced undergraduate and graduate topics

- Encourages pencil & paper way of learning (took me way too long to learn this is the best appraoch)
1 comments
ptsneves 249 days ago
> Centred around AI

Where do you see the centered around AI? I have used it a lot and have not touched a single subject around AI.

> - Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

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commandersaki 249 days ago
Where do you see the centered around AI?

From https://www.mathacademy.com/how-it-works:

> Math Academy is an AI-powered, fully-automated online math-learning platform. Math Academy meets each student where they are via an adaptive diagnostic assessment and introduces and reinforces concepts based on each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

I don't want a computer in the loop when I learn math, plain and simple. My preferred style of learning is instructor led with a mix of Socratic method and hand holding. But bar that, reading texts and using a pen and paper.

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Nope, doesn't look like my cup of tea.

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yorwba 249 days ago
As far as I can tell, most of its value comes from having a reasonably thorough dependency tree of math topics and corresponding exercises (which can be solved with pen and paper) and describing it as "AI" is how you get investors to fund a math textbook.

See also How Math Academy Creates its Knowledge Graph https://www.justinmath.com/how-math-academy-creates-its-know... "We do it manually, by hand."

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qwertytyyuu 249 days ago
The “ai” is an expert system yes to calibrate to your ability to answer questions it throws at you. The questions are all human written. I had your initial scepticism as well, I can reassure you that the ai is not an LLM. Also the guy Justin skycak who built it has put a lot of thought into its pedagogy
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delichon 249 days ago
My experience with MathAcademy is very positive. So is my experience using ChatGPT 5 as a math teacher in learning mode. I'm as fed up with AI slop as most people, but for me this is a domain where it excels.
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