News

This is a chronicle of stuff about QuickMath, from the utterly mundane to the mildly interesting. Old stuff is at the bottom, new stuff is at the top.

August 16, 2001

Finally converted the site from MathScript to webMathematica, which allows QuickMath to show properly typeset mathematical notation for the first time.

February 12, 2000

A bunch of Scientific Notation commands is added to the Numbers section, covering conversion to and from scientific notation and multiplication and division of numbers expressed in scientific and/or decimal notation.

February 5, 2000

After 7 days of solid coding, a suite of Quadratic commands is added to the Equations section. These commands provide detailed explanations for the most common problems involving quadratics, including factoring quadratic functions, solving quadratic equations (by three different methods), completing the square, plotting parabolas and calculating and using the discriminant.

January 23, 2000

In response to a request by QuickMath user Maria Anderson, an inequalities plotting command is added to the Graphs section. I learnt a lot of new stuff about efficient Mathematica programming whilst cooking this one up - this command can evaluate 8 inequalities over a grid of 40 000 points, and produce the resulting plots, in about 30 seconds.

January 17, 2000

Stealing the idea from WebMath, I add a Numbers section containing the Percentages command, which gives descriptive solutions for common percentages problems.

January 8, 2000

A new section, Graphs, is added. It contains the Plot command for generating graphs of functions and relations.

December 18, 1999

QuickMath is incorporated into the math.com site, making them the first full QuickMath partner. Every QuickMath command is available to visitors to math.com without them having to leave the site.

October 11, 1999

After three solid months of writing and testing, QuickMath finally gets its first code for providing worked solutions. The Expand command is the first one to be enabled with the descriptive code, allowing the QuickMath server to provide custom computer-generated explanations for any polynomial expansion supplied by the user. (Note - August 16, 2001 : explanations have temporarily been dropped from the expand command until the next version of QuickMath is released).

July 8, 1999

Inverse and Determinant are added to the matrices section.

July 5, 1999

The matrices section is added in response to a request by Gwendolyn D. Fagan.

June 22, 1999

The Inequations section is added.

June 15, 1999

The Cancel command is added to the Algebra section. It cancels out any common factors which appear in the denominator and numerator of fractions.

June 14, 1999

The Join Fractions command is added to the Algebra section. It essentially performs the reverse of the partial fractions command by joining one or more fractions into a single fraction.

June 13, 1999

The Partial Fractions command is added to the Algebra section. This allows you to rewrite any rational expression as a sum of fractions.

June 8, 1999

QuickMath version 2 goes live. It is a total rewrite of the entire site, including powerful new options for the existing commands and a completely new calculus section.

March 29, 1999

The old email version of QuickMath is finally killed off, having answered a total of 6716 questions. My poor old iMac, which answered every single question, gets a well deserved rest.

March 20, 1999

The real time version of QuickMath is developed and goes online. It is a huge hit - the number of questions asked daily roughly quadruples immediately.

March 6, 1999

I start an account with HostSRV, a MathScript hosting company. Work begins on a real time version of QuickMath.

February 25, 1999

QuickMath answers question number 2000.

February 25, 1999

I discover the joys of MathScript, a means by which the computer algebra package Mathematica can be interactively accessed via a web browser. The cogs start to turn . . .

February 17, 1999

I do a similar deal with The Math Doctor (now known as MathNerds.com). QuickMath becomes a feature on this site too. Many thanks, Valerio.

February 9, 1999

I post a message about QuickMath on Algebra Online. Knowing a good thing when he sees one, the proprietor of that fine site, Sam Glick, immediately offers me a co-marketing deal. QuickMath soon becomes a feature of Algebra Online and the number of questions takes a big leap.

February 8, 1999

Version 1 of QuickMath goes live for the first time. Long-time QuickMath devotees will recall that this stone-age version did not operate in real time. Instead, questions were emailed to my trusty iMac, where the answer was automatically generated and emailed back to the user. Very slow and cumbersome, but it worked.

Day 1 arrives. The code is tweaked to (near) perfection, the permanent connection is up and stable, the brand new QuickMath iMac is ready and poised to deal with the incoming torrent of questions, and . . . QuickMath receives 1 question. Congratulations, aceippon@hotmail.com, you are the proud owner of solution Algebra 000001.

Late 1998

The site and code near completion. The endless hours of testing and debugging begin.

Mid 1998

The concept of QuickMath begins to form. I realize that a site which answers math problems automatically could be quite useful to a lot of people. I start to work on the code and snap up the quickmath.com domain, surprised to find it hasn't been taken already.

Early 1998

My first idea for a math site, the now defunct and completely unknown Aha! Mathematics!, makes its debut. This was a site for doing math tutoring by email. The problem was (as I found out when I got my first and only client), typing out mathematical notation takes forever. Goodbye Aha! Mathematics!

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