Comments on: [Future Text] Des-man

By: Kevin Hall

Kevin Hall — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 00:53:05 +0000

Used Des-man today. It was great, but I have one suggestion for the dashboard. You could add a reporting feature that identifies students who have used a compound inequality such as x^2-5 < y < -2, which looks like a smiling mouth. That was a separate level of complexity that only a few students got to today, and I would have liked to be able to identify them quickly and send others to them for hints on how to do it.

By: Eli

Eli — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:39:33 +0000

Kate: we were certain that as soon as we started featuring “recent” graphs we’d get genitalia of all forms. Either we don’t give students enough credit for their restraint, or graphing a recognizable penis is pretty tricky.

Maria: Do we seem like Wiris? Ouch. I believe that comments on blog.mrmeyer.com are binding under the US Constitution: We won’t ever require payment to use desmos.com/calculator.

That said, not everything we do can be free. We charge partners (desmos.com/partners), and we’re experimenting with paid goodies and content. But the core calculator will not just remain free as long as Desmos draws breath, it will also keep getting better.

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 21:21:46 +0000

Maybe I’m too pessimist, but it looks like Desmos won’t be for free too long, it’s too awesome…

Something similar happened with Wiris Calculator, they suddenly announced it would need a subscription fee…

Does anybody know if it will keep free for long, just like Geogebra?
Thanks!

By: James Cleveland

James Cleveland — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:17:10 +0000

But Kate, if they have the skill to draw that penis in Desmos, I’d say that demonstrates understanding.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 17:46:17 +0000

This is awesome! I’ve done this project for years now on paper and always wanted a computer way for them to be able to check their work and troubleshoot!

Here’s mines: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/apo2t3vch1

By: Kate Nowak

Kate Nowak — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 17:27:58 +0000

“With Des-man, an Internet connection lets you see all your friends’ Des-men instantly, as they’re being drawn.”

In a room full of 9th graders you could set a clock by how fast the first penis showed up. Just saying.

By: David Taub

David Taub — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:05:52 +0000

Interesting timing – last night I just created a similar exercise for my students using Desmos (not networked, that’s a nice touch). My students are “restricted” to straight lines right now (that’s all they know how to graph) so I created a stick figure with straight lines for them to “duplicate”.

I wanted them to duplicate the exact figure to they could practice come up with specific target equations: “How do I get the line at exactly that angle” and so on.

For those that are curious:

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/7olodgg9xn

By: Jason Dyer

Jason Dyer — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:47:31 +0000

Could it be possible to go bigger? Why am I restricted to looking at faces from my class? Could I enter my face into a worldwide ranking system so people all over vote up the best face?

By: jim cibulka

jim cibulka — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:58:27 +0000

Hey Dan! Since you know the folks at Desmos . . . any chance you can talk them into getting line of best fit / slope feature? Still looking for that on the iPad in freshman physics . . . it’d be awesome! Thanks for all you do!

By: Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:54:48 +0000

I was grumbling about this very issue to myself while riding my bike through the Scottish countryside. I had just noticed that iOS 7 seems to be more serious about just sharing things locally and directly through the network with AirDrop, which is great but, jeez, why has it been so hard to just pass something to the person next to you for so long?!?