Newswise — The mobile math lab Math4Mobile, developed by Prof. Michal Yerushalmy of the University of Haifa, will be displayed at the prestigious "Industries of Tomorrow" exhibition at the Presidential Conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center on 20-22 October. The exhibition provides a showcase for initiatives that will change the face of tomorrow in various areas.
The innovative Math4mobile device, developed by Professor Yerushalmi alongside Arik Weizman and Zohar Shavit of the Department of Computer Science, is a software application for installation on mobile phones, enabling them to perform a series of mathematical functions at various levels - from geometry for elementary students to differential calculus at the high school level. The software developed for cellular use draws on a range of educational materials from various computerized study programs and enables a variety of applications, such as graphs, diagrams, equations, derivatives, and a range of calculations.The use of mobile phones provides another benefit: group learning. The software allows students to send each other graphs or formulas via SMS, thereby including a large number of participants in the learning process and in the understanding of mathematical problems. The "mobile math lab" was presented to the Presidential Conference's selection committee by the Carmel Haifa University Economic Corporation Ltd. as a step towards exposing the device to potential investors and strategic partners and making it a commercial project.
"I believe that mathematics should be learned in creative ways, not by learning formulas by rote. Just as there are physics and biology labs, there should also be math labs. Students need to understand how to arrive at formulas from situations that happen in everyday life," Professor Yerushalmy explains. She says the problem is that so far math labs have only been accessible on computers, and the availability of computers in schools is low. In addition, the work had to be done in the school's computer lab - but this new application can be used in the school yard, in the classroom, and even on the way home.
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