Arithmatrix provides people looking to shift into the tech industry an accelerated opportunity to develop critical thinking and estimation skills. The app introduces basic concepts that build into more complex calculations through study prompts. Mathematical theories are broken down into two components, estimation problems (also known as fermi problems) and multiple-choice questions.
The estimation problems are designed to deal with ambiguity and set base assumptions. A user can gain skills to develop a rough estimate of a solution beforehand to sanity-check their answer. If there is a big disparity between your estimate and the actual answer, then either the data isn’t quite what you thought it was or the solution you got was calculated incorrectly.
The multiple-choice questions have an emphasis on number sense. Number sense is the understanding of the relationship between numbers. Being able to connect numbers and operations together allows a user to solve problems in a more efficient way and without the use of a calculator.
Like other skill-building apps, Arithmatrix uses an incentive-based framework to track progress. Questions are refreshed daily, and the user can collect points based on their degree of closeness to the solution and the speed at which they were able to get an answer.
Traditional methods of developing hard skills for tech jobs don’t provide a paradigm to learn problem-solving skills and there is a learning curve to be able to develop them later in life. Arithmatrix aims to alleviate the stress of this process by giving users a proper and consistent framework to truly understand problem solving.