Best Free Online Resources: Math Edition
Continuing our series of best free online tools for students, this week we will share our favorite tools for math-related schoolwork. The resources are separated into 3 categories:
Content resources
Computational tools
College-specific resources
Content Resources:
Khan Academy: Khan Academy is undoubtedly one of the best free online math resources available. It provides an extensive library of math topics and lessons to choose from, as well as instructional videos to help you learn the material. Khan Academy has saved me on multiple occasions as I struggled to understand math concepts - I could not recommend it enough!
IXL: This is another great online math resource that offers practice questions and activities to help sharpen your math skills. IXL covers basic math to more advanced topics such as calculus and algebra. It also provides full-length practice tests to help you prepare for upcoming tests.
Youtube: If you are looking for a quick explanation on a specific topic, Youtube is often the quickest and easiest solution. There are many channels dedicated to math that provide excellent tutorials and step-by-step walkthroughs of both simple and advanced math concepts.
Computational Tools
Wolfram Alpha: Wolfram Alpha can solve equations and generate graphs to help you visualize the data. Its greatest strength is the built-in natural-language processing, so when you enter prompts like “how do I integrate x²”, it knows what you are asking and calculates the solution.
Cymath: Similar to Wolfram Alpha, this online math resource provides step-by-step solutions for a wide range of math problems. You can enter challenging math problems and it will show you how to reach the solution step-by-step.
Desmos: Desmos is an interactive graphing calculator that can be used to explore math concepts from basic to advanced. It provides a fun, hands-on way to visualize equations and can help you understand math better. The interface is responsive and intuitive, which helped me grasp algebra and calculus-related concepts much faster. Desmos has other tools as well, but the graphing calculator is the most powerful
College-Specific Resources
OverLeaf: Another excellent online resource is OverLeaf. It is a live LaTeX editor that enables collaborative document editing and review. LaTeX is a typesetting system used in academic writing, and OverLeaf makes it easier to collaborate on complex equations and symbols.
Google Scholar: Google Scholar is an invaluable resource for students looking to research math-related topics. You’ll only really need to use Google Scholar in math if you are looking for math research papers, but if/when you are doing so, it’s a great tool to have.
When using these tools, make sure to spend a few minutes playing around with them and testing their limits. Each can be very powerful, but it will take time to learn the full capability of any tool. If you found this helpful, sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of this page to get content like this in your inbox!
