LaTeX Cards: Flashcards

What is LaTeX Cards app?

Before explaining what LaTeX Cards app is in this review, we need to answer the question, What is LaTeX?

Any easy way to answer this is to describe the problem it solves.

Due to the way computers display text, setting out mathematical formulae and theorems is difficult. It is especially the case when working at a higher level. 

The symbols have no corresponding key on the keyboard. Text fields don’t have the flexibility to allow for the layout of the formulae and theorems.

LaTeX is a simple way to enter the theorems so that they display correctly and accurately. It does this through mark-up language. Each symbol and formatting type has a corresponding series of characters, and entering these in the correct order will result in a clearly formatted theorem or formulae. 

For example, the pi symbol is commonly needed when working with circles but has no keyboard key. In LaTex entering “/pi” displays the symbol. Even complex layouts such as matrices can be defined in a logical and clear way using a standard keyboard. You build up the expressions using such strings of text within defined rules.

This simplicity and flexibility are why LaTeX is so popular in academia.

The above explains the LaTeX part of LaTeX Cards. The Cards part refers to flashcards.

Flashcards are great ways to learn and revise and have been popular for many years predating apps by a long way. Apps, however, enhance flashcards with no downsides. A phone can hold many decks of cards, apps can track the learner’s success rate, and new decks are easy to create with no extra resources required.

One disadvantage for high-level engineering, physics, or maths learners was that learning to match theorems to their names was difficult with app-based flashcard apps. This awkwardness was entirely because of the difficulty of accurately formatting them.

LaTeX Cards solves this problem by joining LaTeX to flashcards. A student produced the app to solve the problem they were facing, and now the app can solve it for all students.                                                         

What we love about LaTeX Cards app.

Although it does not matter to the end user, there is something very pleasing about seeing an app produced, not because of a business idea, but because it solved a problem the developer faced. It is inspiring to see a student identify their problem and produce a compelling and elegant solution.

LaTeX Cards is a superb and effective solution to the problem it aims to solve, and it rewards teamwork. While creating your own cards can help the learning process, sometimes it helps to share the load. Students can share the creation of decks, and teachers can pre-prepare them for their pupils.

The sharing process is straightforward, with the decks being stored in the cloud and access granted through the sharing of QR codes generated by the app. You can create decks using the supporting website and a computer for an even easier process.

What skills does it teach?

LaTeX Cards is a tool for students to learn and memorise mathematical formulae and theorems. It does not come pre-filled with lots of existing content, so students must build it themselves. This creation is often an important part of the learning process when using flashcards, so you should not see it as a flaw.

What age is it appropriate for?

Students who need to lay out higher-level theorems and formulae to learn them will benefit from LaTeX Cards. This is likely to be college or university-level students, but it is possible that some gifted younger students will also be working at this level, and there is nothing in LaTeX Cards that should put them off from using it.

Is LaTeX Cards app easy to use?

LaTeX Cards does require students to learn the LaTex mark-up syntax. This is not complicated; the app links to a clear look-up chart on its supporting website. There will be a learning curve as students become familiar with the syntax and memorise it, but once they have done so, they’ll find it easier to enter their mathematical expressions than with any other method.

How will students benefit?

There are two main ways that students will benefit from LaTeX Cards. The first is in the short term, as they will now be able to create an effective flashcard deck for their revision. Maths learning tools at this higher level are not as common as for primary and elementary-aged students, so it is pleasing to see a solution to a real-world problem.

Secondly, students who use this app will grow their familiarity with LaTeX. It is not a proprietary language existing only within the confines of this app but one that these students may find useful later in academia or their professional lives. 

Understanding the concept now and employing it in a productive way will give students this practical knowledge.

How will teachers benefit?

Flashcards aren’t just great personal revision tools but are also helpful in the classroom. Teachers, just like students, face the problem of producing clearly laid out formulae and theorems for displaying on class displays and producing helpful visual teaching aids. 

Teachers using LaTeX Cards with a shared classroom display will have an effective extra teaching tool to support their lessons. The app also has compatibility with tools teachers may already employ to support their classes, such as the Apple Schoolwork app. As we’ve already mentioned in this review of LaTeX Cards, teachers can distribute the decks they create by using a QR code they share with their class.

What can LaTeX Cards app improve on?

The app’s LaTeX look-up chart is available through an external link. Ideally, we’d like to see a LaTeX guide included in the app as students often use flashcard apps when travelling. Having the supporting information built into the app will prevent frustration when the user is in an area with poor data coverage. It doesn’t have high data requirements, but it would also reduce this reliance on students’ data allocation.

LaTex Cards does not have some of the features of other flashcard apps, such as an intelligent tracking of which cards students need to see again and which they have memorised. 

When users don't know the answer to a question on a flashcard, they can select skip to let the app know that they don't know. On some flashcard apps, there is a skip option and a don't know option. The latter contributes to the stats, while the former does not. 

This is not a feature you'll likely miss, but it might be clearer for users who expect this behaviour for the app to use pass or don't know as a label to make it more explicit that not answering the question is part of the stats.

Good to know

Open source software is a valuable resource for developers, but many try to do the bare minimum to acknowledge their use of it. The developer of LaTeX cards makes very clear reference to the software they have used and, no doubt, OS software has contributed to the low price of this app.

In turn, users are asked to make a little contribution by helping to translate the app to other languages. If you are a multilingual teacher, you can help the app get adapted to aid your students. There isn’t much to translate, and you’d open the app up to other students worldwide.

How much does LaTeX Cards app cost?

LaTex Cards is free to download. This version is best for testing as it is only a single in-app purchase to upgrade to the premium version.

What is included with the free version vs. paid?

The premium version of LaTeX Cards has no advertising and unlocks more useful features. These include statistics, organisational and improved sharing features.

Is LaTeX Cards app safe to use?

There is no advertising in the premium version of LaTex Cards, although there is in the free version. There are no third-party external links or inappropriate content in LaTeX Cards.

Overall rating of the app.

Flashcard apps are not new to app stores, but LaTeX Cards offers a valuable alternative to students of maths, physics, engineering or anything else that uses higher-level mathematical symbols and layouts. Becoming familiar with LaTeX is valuable in its own right and using it to assist learning through flashcards was an inspired idea by the developer.

Not everyone will need the functionality of LaTeX cards, but you’ll know from this review whether you do. If you are a student working with mathematical expressions LaTeX is designed to present, LaTeX Cards is excellent quality and superb value. Give the free version a try and upgrade to the premium for the best experience.

You can download LaTeX Cards: Flashcards on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the LaTeX Cards: Flashcards app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.