Your smart phone’s built-in calculator works just fine when it comes to simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. But in the face of a slightly more complicated equation, most of us tend to reach for an old-fashioned pen and paper.

The MyScript Calculator app, available for free for iPhone and Android users, combines the familiarity and intuitiveness of solving equations on paper with the powerful processing capabilities of your phone.

MyScript works by using handwriting recognition. Trace out your equation on your touch screen with your finger or a stylus, and the app will convert your handwriting into text it can interpret and instantly solve the problem.

The app is simple to use and works quickly and accurately, regardless of the quality of your handwriting. Buttons at the top of the screen allow you to undo or redo what you have entered. Scratching out what you have written also works to start your equation over, the same way it would if you were making calculations the traditional way.

Rather than hunting for the buttons associated with more complex functions, like finding a square root or log, users can simply draw them in and let the app do the legwork of recognizing and executing expressions. The app includes a wide range of mathematical operations, from simple addition and subtraction to logarithms and trigonometry functions.

The app also permits sharing, allowing users to share their calculations via email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a variety of other note taking and social networking apps.

The MyScript Calculator app was released by Vision Objects, a software editor headquartered in Nantes, France which bills itself as the market leader in handwriting recognition and digital ink management technology. Other apps by Vision Objects worth checking out include MyScript Notes and MyScript Stylus, an app currently in beta testing that will give users the option to replace their keyboard with a small space to write with a stylus.

Unfortunately, downloading this app will not mean you will be able to toss out your graphing calculator just yet — as of now, the app does not include a graphing function.  Longer equations can also be difficult to work with on the app, given that space is limited to spell out anything particularly complex.

But for the typical user, the MyScript Calculator should do more than cover day-to-day math.

Published on October 13, 2013 at 9:24 pm

Contact Linda: lggorman@syr.edu