Symbolab Friend of Foe?

Several of my students have been talking about the Symbolab website and Symbolab app for solving various math problems.  The site covers content in algebra, graphing functions, calculus, geometry, statistics, physics and chemistry.  Students can type in a problem or equation and pick from a list of solutions, complete with step by step instructions and explanations.  It is certainly a helpful tool when struggling to complete homework, but will students use it properly or simply right down solutions? After trying the Symbolab website for myself I have to say I'm impressed with some of its capabilities, however, I'm a little reluctant to recommend it to students because of the ads that keep popping up for dating sites.  Here is a screenshot of the solution provided to me when I typed  2x-y=8  and 3x+y=12 into the search bar. 

What do you think?

Math is Fun

I was recently surfing the web (does anyone still say that?) when I came across this website called Math is Fun (Mathsisfun.com). The website begins with a picture of various topics in math such as algebra and geometry and also with resources such as worksheets and games. 

Upon clicking a topic, you are sent to a page with a breakdown of sub topics within it. These are very informative and have full lessons for a student to go through along with many examples. Further down on the first page is also a teacher page which leads to fun activities for your classroom and even quizzes for your students.

I think this is a great resource to have to get the students out of the classroom and also to potentially use for a flipped class lesson. A teacher can direct their students to the appropriate link for them to look over and take notes from as homework and then provide worksheets the following day in class to practice problems and to ensure student understanding.

It is a resource that can help make math fun!