EdTech-a-thon July 20 - 22, 2026 • Atlanta, GA
Automatic Generation of Math Problems and Answer Checking
Problem Description
Lack of practice items in Math and the lack of platforms to make them.
There are online quiz platforms to make them BUT it's a little too limited for math items.
(1) Math equations need to be manually typed into the item making the work twice as hard. (2) Open-ended questions are key sensitive that's why "-10" and "- 10" are considered two different answers. (3) Unlike other subjects, Math items are replicable with different inputs. Hence, they can be mass-produced; but this could only be possible for pre-existing platforms if we integrate spreadsheet in the creation of items.
Proposed Solution
I propose a Math-specific quiz-generating platform where the interface in item-creation is similar to a spreadsheet.
(1) Variables and formulas could be set to follow certain behaviors. Like, var(A) = random(1, 10) or var(C) = var(A) + var(B) (2) The equations can be recognized automatically within a string of characters by placing them in between some marker like "eq//...//eq" (3) Different stems in different can be used to increase the variety of the items, like "Emma's age is [var(A)] years old while Andrew's age is [var(B)] years old. What is the sum of their ages? Ans: [var(C)]" then another stem could be "Emma's age is [var(A)] years old. If Emma and Andrew's ages together is [var(C)], how old is Andrew? Ans: [var(B)] years old" (4) Answers are automatically recognized as values instead of strings.
I kinda made something like this before but in PowerPoint using the built-in Visual Basic feature. It lacked the interface and the online quizzing features. I also did this with Wayground and GSheets, but it was so inefficient when it got to complex topics.