Mathscribe | Devpost

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Splash Screen of Mobile App

Inspiration

As a grader, seeing poorly formatted, barely legible pdfs be submitted as homework is immensely frustrating. We know students would prefer typeset latex, but many don't know how to use it or don't want to spend time typing it up. Mathscribe is an easy-to-use option that makes our life easier.

What it does

Users can take pictures of their handwritten work, scan a QR code and the image will be uploaded to our webpage - to be rendered in LaTeX. They can copy this LaTex to their clipboard. In addition, they can solve integral, differential, and algebraic expressions (with working) and they can see the final solution displayed as a graph.

How we built it

We began by designing the ideal tech stack and deciding the architecture of the app. Then, we began creating a web page- using HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP- that would ingest an image and output latex. We realized that students would find it more comfortable to use a mobile companion app, that would allow them to take and directly upload pictures of their work, which we did using Flutter (tested on Android). We then went on to build a solution where students could check their answers, which was aided by our AI algorithm that identified the primary mathematical expressions from their notes.

Challenges we ran into

Using poorly documented APIs, facilitating real-time communications between a static web page and a SQL backend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We managed to incorporate many different technologies, languages and platforms in a relatively complex architecture to produce Mathscribe. We're happy to be able to have a positive impact on peoples' lives through technology, and above all we're grateful to have this opportunity to learn, grow and bond as a team.