Paper Reading #2: Hand-On Math: A page-based multi-touch and pen desktop for technical work and problem solving

Hand-On Math: A page-based multi-touch and pen desktop for technical work and problem solving

By:
Robert Zeleznik, Andrew Bragdon, Ferdi Adeputra, Hsu-Sheng Ko.

Presented at UIST 2010

• Robert Zeleznik received his Undergraduate and Masters degrees from Brown university. He is currently the Director of Research at Brown University along with being he Co-Founder of his own company.
• Andrew Bragdon received his Undergraduate and Masters degrees from Brown university. He is currently a PhD student at Brown University.
• Ferdi Adeputra is currently studying Applied Math and Computer Science at Brown University.
• Hsu-Sheng Ko is currently studying at Brown University.

Summary
The scientists from Brown were driven by their belief that the lack of user friendly input methods into Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) resulted in insufficient use of the system, thus resulting in unoptimized solving of mathematical problems using pencil and paper. To counter this they developed a platform that aimed to be almost as intuitive to use as paper whilst still being able to interface with CAS and thus combining the free form ability of paper with the computational power of CAS.

To test their idea they had participants try and use "Touch Pad" as if it were a piece of paper. Problems were done as if they were being done on paper with the added functionality of CAS. They were asked to create and manipulate pages, use the available graphics options to graph equations and manipulate them, use "PalmPrint" to switch between modes and draw annotations in various colours, and manipulate page contents using TAP gestures.

While there was some resentment about the bulkiness of the device, the participants found concept highly intriguing and very useful. For basic functions (i.e. to be used as paper) required no instructions. The gesture technology required considerable about instructing, however once the training was complete, most users found it fairly easy to use the technology. Users felt it was a great tool when it came to help with the organization of their documents and found the mathematical features useful, however felt greater functionality (i.e. beyond high school level math) would obviously be preferred. While users found the bimanual features on the product to be problematic, on the whole the device was favoured.

Testing had a large scope due to the experimental nature of the device. Features included Page Management (which allowed users to almost replicate having multiple pieces of paper laying around; the allowing of page "folding" to make problem organization simpler), Gesture recognition, and bimanual techniques such as Palm Print (which allowed users to control colour, etc with the palm of one hand while continuing work with another hand.

Discussion
I find this idea to be extremely intriguing and very useful. Considering the abusive amount of math needed in engineering and the wide spread use of programs like maple/matlab, the ability to have similar features on something like a tablet PC would be spectacular. It would allow math students to learn and manipulate problems in ways that have never been done before. It would allow users the ability to experiment with problem solving accurately. While this product may not be where it needs to be for it to be a marketable product, the authors have definitely come up with a spectacular idea that could, with some improvements, completely revolutionize how we do math.