Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | _hao's commentslogin

Two intelligence assets talking to each other. Both have quite similar backgrounds with dubious credentials. A history of lying and obfuscation. I wouldn't trust anything Fridman or Durov say.

Subscription to Math Academy might be more suitable for that.

Red flags of Math Academy:

- Centred around AI

- Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)

Green flags for Napkin:

- Covers advanced undergraduate and graduate topics

- Encourages pencil & paper way of learning (took me way too long to learn this is the best appraoch)


> Centred around AI

Where do you see the centered around AI? I have used it a lot and have not touched a single subject around AI.

> - Seems geared around edutech (which is what I gather from the site)

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?


Where do you see the centered around AI?

From https://www.mathacademy.com/how-it-works:

> Math Academy is an AI-powered, fully-automated online math-learning platform. Math Academy meets each student where they are via an adaptive diagnostic assessment and introduces and reinforces concepts based on each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

What is edutech and why is it unsuitable?

I don't want a computer in the loop when I learn math, plain and simple. My preferred style of learning is instructor led with a mix of Socratic method and hand holding. But bar that, reading texts and using a pen and paper.

Finally, have you _used_ MathAcademy at all?

Nope, doesn't look like my cup of tea.


As far as I can tell, most of its value comes from having a reasonably thorough dependency tree of math topics and corresponding exercises (which can be solved with pen and paper) and describing it as "AI" is how you get investors to fund a math textbook.

See also How Math Academy Creates its Knowledge Graph https://www.justinmath.com/how-math-academy-creates-its-know... "We do it manually, by hand."


The “ai” is an expert system yes to calibrate to your ability to answer questions it throws at you. The questions are all human written. I had your initial scepticism as well, I can reassure you that the ai is not an LLM. Also the guy Justin skycak who built it has put a lot of thought into its pedagogy

My experience with MathAcademy is very positive. So is my experience using ChatGPT 5 as a math teacher in learning mode. I'm as fed up with AI slop as most people, but for me this is a domain where it excels.

I'm pretty sure the author hasn't actually followed his own advice. Also, the writing style was atrocious. I wouldn't trust anything said. Seems like the type of post he wrote for himself (nothing wrong with that), but I don't feel that asking a 20-25 year old to have a 5 year plan which is basically 1/4 of their conscious life is something useful or achievable for most.


I think as with everything related to learning if you're conscientious and studious this will be a major boost (no idea, but I plan on trying it out tonight on some math I've been studying). And likewise if you just use it to do your homework without putting in the effort you won't see any benefit or actively degrade.


Bullshit. Tabs are the only sane choice and I don't care what anyone else says.


Until that same AI starts shilling ads and certain viewpoints peddled by their owners in the output... This will happen 100% (ads, the other bit has already happened). The economics of all of these models doesn't work as is. There will be a major squeeze down the line.


Some of us have dipped our toes in local LLMs. To be sure, the ones I can run on my hardware always pale when compared to the online ones. But perhaps in time the ones you can run locally will be good enough.

Or perhaps an Apple or Kagi will host an LLM with no built-in monetization skewing its answers.


you csn run the model, but someone with vastly bigger resources need to train it.


Sure. Hopefully decent pre-ad-injected models will still be around.


It's true for EU and UK. You're protected and have more rights as a worker, but generally HR (in my experience) is definitely not considered your friend in most matters.


Give the new FilePilot a try - https://filepilot.tech/


YouTube without the PocketTube extension (where you can customize stuff like that) is basically unusable on desktop. Give it a try!


A lot of colleagues (based in different parts of Spain) confirm it. No power in Bilbao, Madrid and Malaga.


Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: