Startup Reinvents How We do Math

Philadelphia, PA, January 08, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Pencils, papers and calculators have been math classroom staples for 30 years, but FastFig aims to change that forever. The web-based software company calls itself “The Word Processor for Math” making it easy for students and teachers to type and solve math problems.

Founder Brian Peacock says, “Mathematics has largely been left behind by technology. Everyone will benefit greatly if we move it into the 21st century.” FastFig has done just that by combining a word processor-like interface with an advanced graphing calculator. FastFig CEO Jay Hotaling states, “We watched a lot of students get frustrated when they made mistakes and had to erase everything to re-solve the problem, so we decided to have students do their calculations right in the document. That way fixing a mistake is as easy as changing one number and all the calculations update.”

The company is very excited by the adoption of the Common Core education standards across 46 states. The new math standards call for students to focus on how to setup complex problems rather than explicitly solving them. FastFig is used by students as early as the 2nd Grade and as advanced as engineers in postgraduate education. This wide range of applications means that FastFig grows with students as they learn. “We believe in an applied approach to mathematics,” says Peacock, “one that teaches students the meaning of mathematics over the mechanics of it. This philosophy is reflected in FastFig.”

While there are a number of other math tools available, Alex Potts, CTO of FastFig, comments that, “...most of these tools either focus on solving one problem at a time or are too advanced for the average user.” Stephen Wolfram, CEO of Wolfram Research and creator of Mathematica, acknowledged, “[FastFig] is the first reasonable math program I’ve seen in 16 years.”