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Community Corner

Taking Math to the Masses

Buffalo Grove man creates app to help students with math.

Talk to me about anagrams, metaphors, similes and symbolism; I can take it. I love words and I still like to diagram a sentence now and then. Again, I’m a self-proclaimed word nerd. Mention polynomial functions, cubes, factors and derivatives and the best I can do is spell them.

Thankfully, there’s people out there who not only entirely get math but also have a love for teaching it. Buffalo Grove resident Larry Feldman has turned his hobby of tutoring and teaching math to students into helping the masses.

Larry took it upon himself to fix a void he felt was obvious in the iTunes app store. He saw that the math apps available solved problems without explaining the concepts behind the solutions, while other apps just listed formulas without giving examples or solving problems. Rather than complaining about it, he created a solution. “I designed Math Pro to be a complete solution, which is why it contains tutorials, examples, and specialized calculators (also called ‘solvers’) in one package. I still haven't found a math app that is as comprehensive as Math Pro, but there are over 20,000 educational apps on the iTunes app store, so it's hard to know for sure.”

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He describes it as a suite of tutorials, examples, and specialized calculators for algebra, geometry, probability, statistics, pre-calculus and calculus. He says, “I believe it's downloaded more than my other apps because it contains six of my math apps in one program for $1.99.” Designed primarily for students in eighth to 12th grade, the app offers students the ability to reinforce what they learned in school, do practice problems and receive immediate answers to know whether they’re doing the problems correctly.

Larry says, “Math Pro runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. I'm working on a version of Math Pro that will run on Android devices, but it won't be available for several months. Currently, my app Calculus Pro is available for Android devices, as well as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.” He also has an app called ACT Math Prep that helps student prepare for the math section of the ACT college entrance exam.

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With the drive to continually help students understand math, he answers questions on his Facebook page as time will allow. His website, www.lfeldman.com, discusses all of his various applications and provides links for downloading them.

If you download the Math Pro app by Nov. 6, Larry will donate 20 percent of his proceeds to Misericordia. He chooses different charities throughout the year to give back to, so the math app helps the students, and in effect becomes a philanthropic act. Sounds like a win times a win equals a win squared.

As always, email me with any news, topics or ideas that you want to read about. Remember, I’d like to be the first to know! I can be reached at laurenbgpatch@aol.com.

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